UC-NRLF 


B    3    Eflb    57b 


THE  EARLY  LIFE 

OF 

BRAHAM^LINCOLN 

IDA  M,  TARBELL 


* 


JAMES    K.MOFFITT 


JLltfKAK* 

UHTVERSiTY  OF  CALIFORNIA 
DAVIS 


\ 


THK   EARLIEST  PORTRAIT  OF  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. — HITHERTO   UNPUBLISHED. 

From  a  carbon  enlargement,  by  Sherman  and  McHugh,  New  York,  of  a  daguerreotype  in  the  possession 
of  the  Hon.  Robert  T.  Lincoln,  and  first  published  in  the  McCniRE's  Life  of  Lincoln.  It  is  generally 
believed  that  Lincoln  was  not  over  thirty-five  years  old  when  this  daguerreotype  was  taken,  and  it  is  certainly 
true  that  it  shows  the  face  of  Lincoln  as  a  young  man.  It  is  probably  earlier  by  six  or  seven  years,  at  least, 
than  any  other  existing  portrait  of  Lincoln. 


THE   EARLY  LIFE 

OF 


ABRAHAM   LINCOLN 


CONTAINING  MANY  UNPUBLISHED  DOCUMENTS 

AND    UNPUBLISHED    REMINISCENCES 

OF  LINCOLN'S  EARLY  FRIENDS 


BY 

IDA  M.  TARBELL 

ASSISTED   BY 

J.  McCAN  DAVIS 


WITH   160   ILLUSTRATIONS,  INCLUDING 
20  PORTRAITS   OF  LINCOLN 


NEW  YORK 

S.  S.  McCLURE,  LIMITED 

LONDON 
1896 

[All   rights   reserved] 


L1KKAK  1 

UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA 
DAVIS 


COPYRIGHT,  1895,  BY 
S.  S.  McCLUBE,  LIMITED 

COPYRIGHT,  1896,  BY 
S.  S.  McCLURE,  LIMITED 


Press  of  J.  J.  Little  &  Co. 
Astor  Place,  New  York 


INTRODUCTION. 


IT  has  been  only  within  the  last  ten  years  that  the  descent  of 
Abraham  Lincoln  from  the  Lincolns  of  Hingham,  Massachusetts, 
has  been  established  with  any  degree  of  certainty.  The  satis 
factory  proof  of  his  lineage  is  a  matter  of  great  importance.  In 
a  way  it  explains  Lincoln.  It  shows  that  he  came  of  a  family 
endowed  with  the  spirit  of  adventure,  of  daring,  of  patriotism,  and 
of  thrift ;  that  his  ancestors  were  men  who  for  nearly  two  hun 
dred  years  before  he  was  born  were  active  and  well-to-do 
citizens  of  Massachusetts,  New  Jersey,  Pennsylvania,  or  Virginia, 
men  who  everywhere  played  their  parts  well.  Abraham  Lincoln 
was  but  the  flowering  of  generations  of  upright,  honorable  men. 

The  first  we  learn  of  the  Lincolns  in  this  country  is  between 
the  years  1635  and  1645,  when  there  came  to  the  town  of  Hingham, 
Massachusetts,  from  the  west  of  England,  eight  men  of  that 
name.  Three  of  these,  Samuel,  Daniel,  and  Thomas,  were  brothers. 
Their  relationship,  if  any,  to  the  other  Lincolns  who  came  over 
from  the  same  part  of  the  country  at  about  the  same  time  is  not 
clear.  Two  of  these  men,  Daniel  and  Thomas,  died  without  heirs ; 
but  Samuel  left  a  large  family,  including  four  sons.  Among 
the  descendants  of  Samuel  Lincoln's  sons  were  many  good 
citizens  and  prominent  public  officers.  One  was  a  member  of  the 
Boston  Tea  Party,  and  served  as  a  captain  of  artillery  in  the 
War  of  the  Revolution.  Others  were  privates  in  that  war.  Three 
served  on  the  brig  "Hazard"  during  the  Revolution.  Levi 
Lincoln,  a  great-great-grandson  of  Samuel,  born  in  Hingham  in 
1749,  and  graduated  from  Harvard,  was  one  of  the  minute-men 
at  Cambridge  immediately  after  the  battle  of  Lexington,  a  dele 
gate  to  the  convention  in  Cambridge  for  framing  a  State  Con 
stitution,  and  in  1781  was  elected  to  the  Continental  Congress, 
but  declined  to  serve.  He  was  a  member  of  the  House  of  Repre 
sentatives  and  of  the  Senate  of  Massachusetts,  and  was  appointed 
Attorney-General  of  the  United  States  by  Jefferson ;  for  a  few 
months  preceding  the  arrival  of  Madison  he  was  Secretary  of 
State,  and  in  1807  he  was  elected  Lieutenant-Governor  of  Massa- 


2  INTRODUCTION. 

chusetts.  In  1811  he  was  appointed  Associate  Justice  of  the 
United  States  Supreme  Court  by  President  Madison,  an  office 
which  he  declined.  From  the  close  of  the  Revolutionary  War  he 
was  considered  the  head  of  the  Massachusetts  bar. 

His  eldest  son,  Levi  Lincoln,  born  in  1782,  had  also  an  honor 
able  public  career.  He  was  a  Harvard  graduate,  became  Governor 
of  the  State  of  Massachusetts,  and  held  other  important  public 
offices.  He  received  the  degree  of  LL.D.  in  1824  from  Williams 
College,  and  from  Harvard  in  1826. 

Another  son  of  Levi  Lincoln,  Enoch  Lincoln,  served  in  Con 
gress  from  1818  to  1826.  He  became  Governor  of  Maine  in  1827, 
holding  the  position  until  his  death  in  1829.  Enoch  Lincoln  was 
a  writer  of  more  than  ordinary  ability. 

The  fourth  son  of  Samuel  Lincoln  was  called  Mordecai  (Presi 
dent  Lincoln  descended  from  him,  being  his  great-great-great- 
grandson).  Mordecai  Lincoln  was  a  rich  "  blacksmith,"  as  an 
iron- worker  was  called  in  those  days,  and  the  proprietor  of 
numerous  iron-works,  saw-mills,  and  grist-mills,  which  with  a 
goodly  amount  of  money  he  distributed  at  his  death  among  his 
children  and  grandchildren.  Two  of  his  children,  Mordecai  and 
Abraham,  did  not  remain  in  Massachusetts,  but  removed  to  New 
Jersey,  and  thence  to  Pennsylvania,  where  both  became  rich,  and 
dying,  left  fine  estates  to  their  children.  Their  descendants  in 
Pennsylvania  have  continued  to  this  day  to  be  well-to-do  people, 
some  of  them  having  taken  prominent  positions  in  public  affairs. 
Abraham  Lincoln,  of  Berks  County,  who  was  born  in  1736  and 
died  in  1806,  filled  many  public  offices,  being  a  member  of  the 
General  Assembly  of  Pennsylvania,  of  the  State  Convention  of 
1787,  and  of  the  State  Constitutional  Convention  in  1790. 

One  of  the  sons  of  this  second  Mordecai,  John  (the  great 
grandfather  of  President  Lincoln),  received  from  his  father 
"  three  hundred  acres  of  land,  lying  in  the  Jerseys."  But  evi 
dently  he  did  not  care  to  cultivate  his  inheritance,  for  about 
1758  he  removed  to  Virginia.  "  Virginia"  John,  as  this  member 
of  the  family  was  called,  had  five  sons,  all  of  whom  he  estab 
lished  well.  One  of  these  sons,  Jacob,  entered  the  Revolution 
ary  Army  and  served  as  a  lieutenant  at  York  town. 

The  settlers  of  western  Virginia  were  all  in  those  days  more 
or  less  under  the  fascination  of  the  adventurous  spirit  which  was 
opening  up  the  West,  and  three  of  "  Virginia"  John's  sons  de 
cided  to  try  their  fortunes  in  the  new  country.  One  wenfc  to 


INTRODUCTION.  3 

Tennessee,  two  to  Kentucky.  The  first  to  go  to  Kentucky  was 
Abraham  (the  grandfather  of  the  President).  He  was  already  a 
well-to-do  man  when  he  decided  to  leave  Virginia,  for  he  sold 
his  estate  for  some  seventeen  thousand  dollars.  A  portion  of 
this  money  he  invested  in  land-office  treasury  warrants. 

On  emigrating  to  Kentucky  he  bought  one  thousand  seven 
hundred  acres  of  land.  But  almost  at  the  beginning  of  his  life 
in  the  new  country,  while  still  a  comparatively  young  man,  he 
was  slain  by  the  Indians.  His  estate  seems  to  have  been  in 
herited  by  his  eldest  son,  Mordecai,  who  afterward  became 
prominent  in  the  State  ;  was  a  great  Indian  fighter,  a  famous 
story-teller,  and,  according  to  the  traditions  of  his  descendants, 
a  member  of  the  Kentucky  legislature.  This  last  item  we  have 
not,  however,  been  able  to  verify.  We  have  had  the  fullest  col 
lection  of  journals  of  the  Kentucky  legislature  which  exists, 
that  of  Dr.  R.  T.  Durrett  of  Louisville,  Kentucky,  carefully 
searched,  but  no  mention  has  been  found  in  them  of  Mordecai 
Lincoln. 

It  is  with  the  brother  of  Mordecai,  the  youngest  son  of  the 
pioneer  Abraham,  we  have  to  do,  a  boy  who  was  left  an  orphan 
at  ten  years  of  age,  and  who  in  that  rude  time  had  to  depend 
upon  his  own  exertions.  We  find  from  newly  discovered  docu 
ments  that  he  was  the  owner  of  a  farm  at  twenty-five  years  of 
age,  and  from  the  contemporary  evidence  that  he  was  a  very 
good  carpenter ;  from  a  document  we  have  discovered  in 
Kentucky  we  learn  that  he  was  even  appointed  a  road  surveyor, 
in  1816.  We  have  found  his  Bible,  a  very  expensive  book  at 
that  time  ;  we  have  also  found  that  he  had  credit,  and  was  able 
to  purchase  on  credit  a  pair  of  suspenders  costing  one  dollar  and 
fifty  cents,  and  we  have  learned  from  the  recollections  of 
Christopher  Columbus  Graham  that  in  marrying  the  niece  of  his 
employer  he  secured  a  very  good  wife.  The  second  child  of 
Thomas  Lincoln  was  Abraham  Lincoln,  who  became  the  sixteenth 
President  of  the  United  States  and  the  foremost  man  of  his  age. 

The  career  of  Abraham  Lincoln  is  more  easily  understood  in 
view  of  his  ancestry.  The  story  of  his  life,  which  is  here  told 
more  fully  and  consecutively,  and  in  many  points,  both  minor 
and  important,  we  believe  more  exactly  than  ever  before,  bears 
out  our  belief  that  Abraham  Lincoln  inherited  from  his  ancestry 
traits  and  qualities  of  mind  which  made  him  a  remarkable  child 
and  a  young  man  of  unusual  promise  and  power.  So  far  from 


4  INTRODUCTION. 

his  later  career  being  unaccounted  for  in  his  origin  and  early 
history,  it  is  as  fully  accounted  for  as  in  the  case  of  any  man. 

So  far  as  possible,  the  statements  in  this  work  are  based  on 
original  documents.  This  explains  why  in  several  cases  the 
dates  differ  from  those  commonly  accepted.  Thus  the  year  of 
the  death  of  the  grandfather  of  Abraham  Lincoln  is  made 
1788,  instead  of  1784,  because  of  the  recently  discovered  inven 
tory  of  his  estate.  The  impression  given  of  Thomas  Lincoln  is 
different  from  that  of  other  biographies,  because  we  believe  the 
new  documents  we  have  found  and  the  new  contemporary 
evidence  we  have  unearthed,  justify  us  in  it.  We  have  not 
made  it  a  sign  of  shiftlessness  that  Thomas  Lincoln  dwelt  in  a 
log  cabin  at  a  date  when  there  was  scarcely  anything  else  in  the 
State. 

An  effort  has  been  made,  too,  to  give  what  we  believe  to  be  a 
truer  color  to  the  fourteen  years  the  Lincolns  spent  in  southern 
Indiana.  The  poverty  and  the  wretchedness  of  their  life  has 
been  insisted  upon  until  it  is  popularly  supposed  that  Abraham 
Lincoln  came  from  a  home  similar  to  those  of  the  "poor  white 
trash  "  of  the  South.  There  is  no  attempt  made  here  to  deny 
the  poverty  of  the  Lincoln  household,  but  it  is  insisted  that  this 
poverty  was  a  temporary  condition  incident  to  pioneer  life  and 
the  unfortunate  death  of  Thomas  Lincoln's  father  when  he  was 
but  a  boy.  Thomas  Lincoln's  restless  efforts  to  better  his  con 
dition  by  leaving  Kentucky  for  Indiana  in  1816,  and  afterwards, 
when  he  had  discovered  that  his  farm  in  Spencer  County  was 
barren,  by  trying  his  fortunes  in  Illinois,  are  sufficient  proof 
that  he  had  none  of  the  indolent  acceptance  of  fate  which  char 
acterizes  the  "poor  whites." 

In  telling  the  story  of  the  six  years  of  Lincoln's  life  in  New 
Salem,  we  have  attempted  to  give  a  consecutive  narrative  and  to 
show  the  exact  sequence  of  events,  which  has  never  been  done 
before.  We  have  shown,  what  seems  to  us  very  suggestive,  the 
persistency  and  courage  with  which  he  seized  every  opportunity 
and  carried  on  simultaneously  his  business  as  storekeeper  and 
postmaster  and  surveyor  and  at  the  same  time  studied  law.  To 
establish  the  order  of  events  in  this  New  Salem  period,  the 
records  of  the  county  have  been  carefully  examined,  and  many 
new  documents  concerning  Lincoln  have  been  found  in  this 
search,  including  his  first  vote,  his  first  official  document  (an 
election  return),  and  several  new  surveying  plats.  The  latter 


INTRODUCTION.  5 

show  Lincoln  to  have  been  much  more  active  as  a  surveyor  than 
has  commonly  been  supposed.  We  have  also  brought  to  light 
the  grammar  Lincoln  studied,  with  a  sentence  written  on  the  title 
page  in  Lincoln's  own  hand. 

For  the  first  time,  too,  we  publish  documents  signed  by  Lin 
coln  as  a  postmaster.  These  two  letters  are  also  earlier  than  any 
other  published  letters  of  Lincoln.  Many  minor  errors  have  been 
corrected,  such  as  the  real  number  of  votes  which  he  received  on 
his  first  election  to  the  legislature,  and  the  times  and  places  of 
his  mustering  out  and  into  service  in  the  Black  Hawk  War. 

The  number  of  illustrations  in  the  work  is  many  times  greater 
than  ever  has  before  appeared  in  connection  with  the  early  life 
of  Lincoln.  The  scenes  of  his  life  in  Kentucky,  Indiana,  and 
Illinois  have  been  photographed  especially  for  us,  and  we  have 
collected  from  various  sources  numbers  of  pictures  illustrating 
the  primitive  surroundings  of  his  boyhood  and  young  manhood, 
together  with  portraits  of  many  of  his  companions  in  those  days. 
Our  object  in  giving  such  a  profusion  of  homely  scenes  and 
faces  has  been  to  make  a  history  of  Lincoln's  early  life  in  pict 
ures.  We  believe  that  one  examining  these  prints  independ 
ently  of  the  text  would  have  a  good  idea  of  Lincoln' s  condition 
from  1809  to  1836. 

By  far  the  most  important  of  the  illustrations  of  the  work  is 
the  collection  of  portraits.  This  is  the  first  systematic  effort  to 
make  a  complete  collection  of  portraits  of  the  great  President. 
Our  success  so  far  encourages  us  in  believing  that  before  we  end 
our  work  on  Lincoln  we  shall  have  such  a  collection.  Already 
we  have  some  seventy-five  different  portraits.  Of  these,  the 
great  majority  are  photographs,  ambrotypes,  and  daguerreo 
types.  It  was  Mr.  Lincoln's  custom,  after  the  introduction  of 
photography  into  Illinois,  to  sit  for  his  picture  whenever  he 
visited  a  town  to  make  a  speech.  This  picture  he  usually  gave 
to  his  host;  the  result  was  that  there  now  remain,  scattered 
among  his  old  friends,  a  large  number  of  interesting  portraits, 
of  which  nobody  but  the  owners  knew  until  we  undertook  this 
work.  Thus  of  the  twenty  portraits  which  appear  in  this  vol 
ume,  twelve  have  never  before  been  published  anywhere,  so  far 
as  we  know. 

It  has  been  through  the  generosity  and  courtesy  of  collectors 
and  of  our  correspondents  and  readers  that  it  has  been  possible 
for  us  to  gather  so  great  a  number  of  portraits  and  documents. 


6  INTRODUCTION. 

On  all  sides  collections  have  been  put  freely  at  our  service,  and 
numbers  of  our  readers  have  sent  us  unpublished  ambrotypes, 
daguerreotypes,  and  photographs,  glad,  as  they  have  written  us, 
to  aid  in  completing  a  Lincoln  portrait  gallery.  It  is  not  pos 
sible  to  mention  here  the  names  of  all  those  to  whom  we  are 
indebted,  not  only  for  portraits  but  for  documents  and  manu 
scripts,  but  credit  is  given  in  inserting  the  material  furnished. 

Our  effort  has  been  to  give  in  both  text  and  notes  as  exact 
and  full  statements  as  the  information  we  have  been  able  to 
gather  permitted  us  to  do.  If  any  reader  of  this  volume  dis 
covers  errors  we  shall  be  glad  to  receive  corrections. 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  I. 

PAGE 

Origin  of  the  Lincoln  Family. — Possessions  of  Lincoln's  Grandfather. — 
Lincoln's  Story-telling  Uncle. — Account  of  Lincoln's  Father,  Thomas 
Lincoln. — Marriage  of  Thomas  Lincoln  and  Nancy  Hanks. — Character 
of  Nancy  Hanks. — Thomas  Lincoln's  Manner  of  Life  and  Standing 
among  his  Neighbors 21 


CHAPTER  II. 

The  Birth  of  Abraham  Lincoln. — Lincoln's  Childhood  Home. — Reminis 
cences  of  Austin  Gollaher,  a  Boyhood  Comrade  of  Lincoln's.  —Saves 
Lincoln's  Life. — Lincoln's  Early  School-teachers. — Lincoln's  Fondness 
for  Study  ." 42 


CHAPTER  III. 

The  Lincolns  leave  Kentucky. — Hewing  a  Way  through  the  Forests  of 
Indiana. — A  Cabin  erected  near  Gentry ville,  Spencer  County,  Indiana. 
— Description  of  Lincoln's  New  Home. — Domestic  Economy  of  the 
Lincoln  Household. — Pioneer  Fare  and  Apparel. — Death  of  Lincoln's 
Mother. — Lincoln's  Strength  and  Skill  as  a  Laborer. — Lincoln  earns  a 
Dollar  as  a  Ferryman 51 


CHAPTER  IV. 

Lincoln's  Struggle  for  an  Education. — The  Books  he  Read. — Lincoln  as 
the  Oracle  of  Jones's  Store. — Slavery  in  Indiana.— Lincoln  Develops 
into  an  Orator  and  Writer. — Life  on  the  Ohio  and  Mississippi  Rivers 
and  its  Effect  on  Lincoln 


CHAPTER  V. 

Lincoln's  Literary  Fame  among  his  Neighbors. — The  Champion  of  the 
Spelling-bee. — His  Retort  to  a  Boasting  Jockey.— His  Affection  for  his 
Step-mother  .  .  ....  .  ...  v  .  80 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER   VI. 

PAGE 

Amusements  of  Lincoln's  Life  in  Indiana. — Lincoln   as  a  Sportsman. — 
Lincoln's  Earliest  Romance. — Early  Bereavements        .        .        .        .88 


CHAPTER  VII. 

The  Lincolns  leave  Indiana. — Parting  from  Old  Friends  in  Indiana. — The 
Journey  to  Illinois.— Lincoln  as  a  Peddler. — Begins  Life  on  his  own 
Account. — Splitting  Rails  for  a  Pair  of  Trousers. — Lincoln's  Great 
Strength  and  his  Pride  in  it. — Lincoln  and  the  Professional  Athlete  .  94 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

Lincoln's  First  Work  on  his  own  Account. — Lincoln's  Popularity  in  San- 
ganion  County. — Rescues  Three  Comrades  from  Drowning. — Ingenuity 
in  getting  a  Flatboat  over  a  Dam. — A  Visit  to  New  Orleans. — New 
Orleans  in  1831,  and  Lincoln's  Experiences  there 103 


CHAPTER  IX. 

Lincoln  settles  in  New  Salem. — He  becomes  a  Grocery  Clerk. — The  Fron 
tier  Store. — Lincoln  defeats  the  Champion  Wrestler  of  Clary's  Grove. 
—His  Popularity  in  New  Salem. — His  Chivalry  and  Honesty. — Mas 
ters  Kirkham's  Grammar  and  enters  Politics  .  115 


CHAPTER  X. 

Lincoln's  First  Announcement  to  the  Voters  of  Sangamon  County. — His 
Views  on  the  Improvement  of  the  Sangamon. — Views  on  Usury  and 
Education.— The  Modesty  of  his  Circular.— Pilots  a  Steamboat  up  the 
Sangamon .125 


CHAPTER  XI. 

The  Black  Hawk  War.— Outbreak  of  Sacs  and  Foxes.— Lincoln  volunteers 
and  is  elected  a  Captain.— The  Manner  of  his  Election.— An  Inexperi 
enced  Captain  and  a  Disorderly  Company.— The  Course  of  the  War. — 
Stillman's  Defeat.— Zachary  Taylor's  Way  of  dealing  with  Insubor 
dination 


CONTENTS.  9 

CHAPTER  XII. 

PAGE 

Expiration  of  Lincoln's  Term  and  his  Reenlistment. — Major  Iles's  Reminis 
cences  of  the  Campaign. — The  Frantic  Terror  raised  by  Black  Hawk. 
— Lincoln  and  his  Company  enter  Michigan  Territory. — End  of  the 
War,  and  Lincoln's  Return  to  New  Salem 144 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

Electioneering  in  1832  in  Illinois. — Lincoln  defeated  of  Election  to  the  As 
sembly. — Looking  for  Work. — Berry  and  Lincoln  buy  Three  Stores  on 
Credit. — New  Salem  Merchants  in  Lincoln's  Day. — Lincoln  reads 
Burns  and  Shakespeare. — His  Familiarity  with  Shakespeare  .  .  155 


CHAPTER  XIV. 

Lincoln  begins  to  Sfcudy  Law. — His  First  Law-book. — A  Chance  Copy  of 
Blackstone. — Berry  and  Lincoln  take  out  a  Tavern  License  and  hire 
a  Clerk  .  .  166 


CHAPTER  XV. 

Lincoln  appointed  Postmaster.  — Masters  Surveying  in  Six  Weeks,  and  be 
comes  Deputy  County  Surveyor. — Surveying  with  a  Grapevine. — His 
Work  and  Earnings  as  a  Surveyor. — Early  Illinois  Towns  laid  out  by 
Lincoln  .  175 


CHAPTER  XVI. 

Business  Reverses. — The  Kindness  shown  Lincoln  in  New  Salem. — His 
Helpfulness  to  all  about  him. — Growing  Esteem  and  Influence  in 
Sangamon  County. — Becomes  a  Second  Time  a  Candidate  for  Member 
of  the  Illinois  Assembly. — Lincoln  on  the  Stump. — Lincoln's  Election. 
—The  Vote  .  187 


CHAPTER  XVII. 

« 

Lincoln  decides  finally  on  a  Legal  Career. — His  Methods  of  Study.— First 
Session  in  the  General  Assembly.  — Distrust  of  Yankees  in  Early  Illi 
nois. — Description  of  the  Early  Frontier  Legislator. — Questions  before 
the  Assembly. — Internal  Improvements. — The  State  Bank  .  .  .  197 


10  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  XVIII. 

PAGE 

Lincoln's  Romance  with  Ann  Rutledge. — Ann's  First  Lover,  John  McNeill, 
or  McNamar.— McNeill's  Departure  from  New  Salem. — Lincoln's  En 
gagement. — Ann  Rutledge's  Death,  and  Lincoln's  Deep  Grief  .  .  208 

CHAPTER  XIX. 

Abraham  Lincoln  at  Twenty -six  Years  of  Age. — A  Review  of  his  Career 

thus  far.— His  Excellent  Preparation  for  what  was  to  come          .         .  218 

APPENDIX. 

I.  Memoranda  for  Lincoln's  Genealogy.     By  the  Hon.  L.  E.  Chittenden  .  223 

II.  Christopher  Columbus  Graham  and  his  Reminiscences  of  Lincoln's 

Parents     .  ,      .  227 

III.  A  Leaf  from  Lincoln's  Exercise-Book 236 

IV.  The  Oldroyd  Lincoln  Collection     ....  .237 


LINCOLN    IN    1854.— HITHERTO   UNPUBLISHED. 

From  a  photograph  owned  by  Mr.  George  Schneider  of  Chicago,  Illinois,  former  editor  of  the  "  Steals  Zei- 
tung,"  the  most  influential  anti-slavery  German  newspaper  of  the  West.  Mr.  Schneider  first  met  Mr.  Lincoln  in 
1853,  in  Springfield.  "  He  was  already  a  man  necessary  to  know,"  says  Mr.  Schneider.  In  1854  Mr.  Lincoln  was 
in  Chicago,  and  Mr.  Isaac  N.  Arnold,  a  prominent  lawyer  and  politician  of  Illinois,  invited  Mr.  Schneider  to  dine 
with  Mr.  Lincoln.  After  dinner,  as  the  gentlemen  were  going  down  town,  they  stopped  at  an  itinerant  photograph 
gallery,  and  Mr.  Lincoln  had  the  above  picture  taken  for  Mr.  Schneider.  The  newspaper  he  holds  in  his  hands  is 
the  "  Press  and  Tribune." 


LINCOLN    IN    1863. 

Prom  a  photograph  by  Brady,  taken  in  Washington. 


THE    EARLY   LIFE 


OP 


ABRAHAM    LINCOLN 


CHAPTER  I. 

THE   ORIGIN    OP   THE  LINCOLN  FAMILY.— THE  LINCOLNS  IN 

KENTUCKY. 


HE  family  from  which  Abraham  Lincoln  descended 
came  to  America  from  Norfolk,  Eng]and,  in  1637. 
A  brief  table  *  will  show  at  a  glance  the  line  of 
descent : 

Samuel  Lincoln,  born  in  1620.    Emigrated  from 
Norfolk  County,  England,    to  Hingham, 
Massachusetts,  in  1637.    His  fourth  son  was 
Mordecai  Lincoln,  bom  in  1667.     His  eldest  son 

was 
Mordecai  Lincoln,  born  in  1686.     Emigrated  to  New  Jersey  and 

Pennsylvania,  1714.     His  eldest  son  was 
John  Lincoln,  born  before  1725.     In  1758  went  to  Virginia.     His 

third  son  was 

Abraham  Lincoln,  date   of  birth  uncertain.     In  1780,  or  there 
abouts,  emigrated  to  Kentucky.      His  third  son  was 
Thomas  Lincoln,  born  in  1778,  whose  first  son  was 

ABRAHAM  LINCOLN, 
Sixteenth  President  of  the  United  States. 

For  our  present  purpose  it  is  not  necessary  to  examine  the 
lives  of  these  ancestors  farther  back  than  the  grandfather,  Abra 
ham  Lincoln,  who  has  been  supposed  to  have  been  born  in  Vir 
ginia  in  1760.  A  consideration  of  the  few  facts  we  have  of  his 
early  life  shows  clearly  that  this  date  is  wrong.  It  is  known  that 

*  This  table  was  prepared  especially  for  this  work  by  the  Hon.  L.  E.  Chittenden  of 
New  York,  Register  of  the  Treasury  under  Mr.  Lincoln.  In  the  Appendix  will  be  found 
a  full  memorandum  of  Lincoln's  genealogy,  also  prepared  by  Mr.  Chittenden. 


j      i, ie  (^lunticy  oi  fl-r 


in  Cc. 

nt  Money 
of  to  tru. 


<      nt 


to  the   publick   Treafm 


B  |M_  v,.,«^,.  ^  w  ^-ifurcr  hath  been  duly  ccrtihc 
ni*V  c<3Lts>  and  their  Certificate  rec 

^fjM  Office.       GlVlN  Mndcr  my  Hand,  and  tljc  Seal 
JS  Cffiec,   on  this  J  ^^r^C-  —Day  of 


*Tl 

i'car  One  Thoujfd  d  Seven  Hundred  and 

1 

. 

'  "v"  *  •  V/^t  *?5?  f*xW^ '  '-^ 


>•> 


•;    tlic    Payment 


bv  the  Auditors 
d  into  tli    Land 


LAND  WARRANT   1 


ED  TO   ABRAHAM   LINCOLN,   GRANDFATHER  OF  PRESIDENT   LINCOLN. 


From  the  original,  owned  by  R.  T.  Durrett,  LL.D.,  of  Louisville,  Kentucky.  The  land  records  of  Kentucky  show  that 
Abraham  Lincoln  entered  two  tracts  of  land  when  in  Kentucky  in  the  spring  and  summer  of  1780.  These  entries,  furnished 
us  by  Dr.  Durrett,  are  as  follows  : 

MAY  29,  1780.—"  Abraham  Linkhorn  enters  four  hundred  acres  of  laud  on  Treasury  Warrant,  laying  on  Floyd's  Fork, 
about  two  miles  above  Tice's  Fork,  beginning  at  a  Sugar  Tree  S.  B.,  thence  east  three  hundred  poles,  then  north,  to  include 
a  email  improvement.1"—  Land  Register,  page  107. 

.IrxE  7,  1780.—  "Abraham  Linkhorn  enters  eight  hundred  acres  upon  Treasury  Warrant,  about  six  miles  below  Green 
Hivi-r  Lick,  including  an  improvement  made  by  Jacob  Gum  and  Owen  Diver."—  Page  126. 

The  first  tract  of  land  was  surveyed  May  7,  1785  (see  page  23),  and  the  second  on  October  12,  1784.  In  1782  he  entered  a 
third  tract  of  land,  a  record  of  which  is  found  in  Daniel  Boone's  field-book.  This  entry  reads  :  "  Abraham  Lincoln  enters 
five  hundred  acres  of  land  on  a  Treasury  Warrant,  No.  5994,  beginning  opposite  Charles  Yancey's  upper  line,  on  the  south 
side  of  the  river,  running  south  two  hundred  poles,  then  up  the  river  for  quantity  ;  December  11,  1782.  "  This  is  supposed  by 
some  authorities  to  be  a  tract  of  five  hundred  acres  of  land  in  Campbell  County,  surveyed  and  patented  in  Abraham  Lincoln's 
name,  but  after  his  death.  The  spelling  of  the  name  Linkhorn  instead  of  Lincoln,  as  it  is  invariably  in  other  records  of  the 
family,  has  caused  some  to  doubt  that  the  Treasury  warrant  above  was  really  issued  to  the  grandfather  of  the  President. 
The  family  traditions,  however,  all  say  that  the  elder  Abraham  owned  a  tract  on  Floyd's  Fork.  The  misspelling  and  mis 
pronunciation  of  the  name  Lincoln  is  common  in  Kentucky,  Indiana,  and  Illinois.  The  writer  of  this  note  has  frequently 
heard  persons  in  Illinois  speak  of  "  Abe  Linkhorn  "  and  "  Abe  Linkeru." 


NOTES   OF   SURVEY   OF   FOUR   HUNDRED    ACRES   OF   LAND   OWNED    BY    ABRAHAM    LINCOLN,    GRANDFATHER   OF 

PRESIDENT   LINCOLN. 

From  the  record  of  surveys  in  the  surveyor's  office  of  Jefferson  County,  Kentucky,  Book  B.,  page  60. 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 


HUGHES     STATION,    ON    FLOYD'S    CREEK,  JEFFERSON     COUNTY,   KENTUCKY,  WHERE     ABRAHAM    LINCOLN, 
GRANDFATHER  OF  THE  PRESIDENT,   LIVED.— NOW  FIRST   PUBLISHED. 

From  the  original,  owned  by  R.  T.  Dtirrett,  LL.D.,  of  Louisville,  Kentucky.  "  The  first  inhabitants  of 
Kentucky,"  says  Dr.  Durrett,  "on  account  of  the  hostility  of  the  Indians,  lived  in  what  were  called  forts. 
They  were  simple  rows  of  the  conventional  log  cabins  of  the  day,  built  on  four  sides  of  a  square  or  parallelo 
gram,  which  remained  as  a  court,  or  open  space,  between  them.  This  open  space  served  as  a  playground,  a 
muster  field,  a  corral  for  domestic  animals,  and  a  store-house  for  implements.  The  cabins  which  formed  the 
fort's  walls  were  dwelling-houses  for  the  people."  At  Hughes  Station,  on  Floyd's  Creek,  lived  Abraham 
Lincoln  and  his  family.  One  morning  in  1788— the  date  of  the  death  of  Abraham  Lincoln  is  placed  in  1784, 
1786,  and  1788  by  different  authorities  ;  the  inventory  of  his  estate  (page  28)  is  dated  1788;  for  this  reason 
we  adopt  1788— the  pioneer  Lincoln  and  his  three  sons,  Mordecai,  Josiah,  and  Thomas,  were  in  their  clear 
ing,  when  a  shot  from  an  Indian  killed  the  father.  The  two  elder  sons  ran  for  help,  the  youngest  remaining 
by  the  dead  body.  The  Indian  ran  to  the  side  of  his  victim,  and  was  just  seizing  the  son  Thomas,  when 
Mordecai,  who  had  reached  the  cabin  and  secured  a  rifle,  shot  through  a  loophole  in  the  logs  and  killed 
the  Indian.  It  was  this  tragedy,  it  is  said,  that  made  Mordecai  Lincoln  one  of  the  most  relentless  Indian 
haters  in  Kentucky. 

in  1773  Abraham  Lincoln's  father,  John  Lincoln,  conveyed  to  his 
son  a  tract  of  two  hundred  and  ten  acres  of  land  in  Virginia, 
which  he  hardly  would  have  done  if  the  boy  had  been  but  thir 
teen  years  of  age.  We  know,  too,  that  in  1780  Abraham  Lincoln 
had  a  wife  and  five  children,  the  youngest  of  whom  was  at  least 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 


KKLICS   OF   DANIEL  BOONE. 

Photographed  for  this  work  from  the  originals,  in  the  collection  of  pioneer  relics  owned  by  R.  T. 
Durrett,  LL.D.,  of  Louisville,  Kentucky.  The  articles  are  a  rifle,  scalping-knife,  powder-horn,  tomahawk, 
and  hunting-shirt.  Dr.  Durrett  has  all  the  documents  needful  to  establish  the  authenticity  of  each  of 
these  articles.  They  unquestionably  were  used  by  Boone  through  a  long  period  of  hunting  and  Indian 
stalking ;  all  of  the  articles  are  well  preserved,  and  even  the  leather  coat  is  still  fit  for  service.  The  rifle, 
says  Dr.  Durrett,  is  as  true  as  it  ever  was.  In  this  same  collection  are  a  large  number  of  similar  relics  of 
other  Kentucky  pioneers. 

two  years  old.  Evidently  he  must  have  been  over  twenty  years 
of  age,  and  have  been  born  before  1760.  Probably,  too,  his 
birthplace  was  Pennsylvania,  whence  his  father  moved  into  Vir 
ginia  about  1758. 

Abraham  Lincoln  was  a  farmer,  and,  by  1780,  a  rich  one  for 
his  time.  This  we  know  from  the  fact  that  in  1780  he  sold  a 
tract  of  two  hundred  and  forty  acres  of  land  for  "five  thousand 
pounds  of  current  money  of  Virginia;"  a  sum  equal  to  about 
$17.000  at  that  date.  This  sale  was  made,  presumably,  because 
the  owner  wished  to  move  to  Kentucky.  He  and  his  family 
had  for  several  generations  back  been  friends  of  the  Boones. 
The  spell  the  adventurous  spirit  of  Daniel  Boone  cast  over  all 
his  friends,  Abraham  Lincoln  felt ;  and  in  1780,  soon  after  selling 
his  Virginia  estate,  he  visited  Kentucky,  and  entered  two  large 


DEATH  OF  LINCOLN'S  GRANDFATHER. 


27 


tracts  of  land.     Some  months  later  lie  moved  with  his  family 
from  Virginia  into  Kentucky. 

Abraham  Lincoln  was  ambitious  to  become  a  landed  proprietor 
in  the  new  country,  and  he  entered  a  generous  amount  of  land — 
four  hundred  acres  on  Long  Run,  in  Jefferson  County;  eight  hun 
dred  acres  on  Green  River,  near  Green  River  Lick ;  five  hundred 
acres  in  Campbell  County.  He  settled  near  the  first  tract,  where 
he  undertook  to  clear  a  farm.  It  was  a  dangerous  task,  for  the 
Indians  were  still  troublesome,  and  the  settlers,  for  protection, 
were  forced  to  live  in  or  near  forts  or  stations.  In  1784,  when 
John  Filson  published  his  ''History  of  Kentucky,"  though  there 
was  a  population  of  thirty  thousand  in  the  territory,  there  were 
but  eighteen  houses  outside  of  the  stations.  Of  these  stations, 
or  stockades,  there  were  but  fifty-two.  According  to  the  tradition 
in  the  Lincoln  family,  Abraham  Lincoln  lived  in  one  of  these 
stockades. 

All  went  well  with  him  and  his  family  until  1788.  Then, 
one  day,  while  he  and  his  three  sons  were  at  work  in  their 
clearing,  an  unexpected  Indian  shot  killed  the  father.  His 

death  was  a  terrible  btow  to 
the  family.  The  large  tracts 
of  land  which  he  had  entered 
were  still  wild,  and  his  person 
al  property  was  necessarily 
small.  The  difficulty  of  reach 
ing  the  country  at  that  date, 
as  well  as  its  wild  condition, 
made  it  impracticable  for  even 
a  wealthy  pioneer  to  own  more 
stock  or  household  furniture 
than  was  absolutely  essential. 
Abraham  Lincoln  was  prob 
ably  as  well  provided  with  per 
sonal  property  as  most  of  his 
neighbors,  and  much  better  than  many.  He  had,  for  a  pioneer,  an 
unusual  amount  of  stock,  of  farming  implements,  and  of  tools ;  and 
his  cabin  contained  comforts  which  were  rare  at  that  date.  The 
inventory  of  his  estate,  recently  found  at  Bardstown,  Kentucky, 
and  here  published  for  the  first  time,  gives  a  clearer  idea  of  the 
life  of  the  pioneer  Lincoln,  and  of  the  condition  in  which  his 
wife  and  children  were  left,  than  any  description  could  do  : 


LONG   RUN  BAPTIST   MEETING-HOUSE . 

From  the  original  drawing,  owned  by  R.  T.  Dur- 
rett,  LL.D.,  of  Louisville,  Kentucky.  This  meeting 
house  was  built  on  the  land  Abraham  Lincoln,  grand 
father  of  the  President,  was  clearing  when  killed  by 
Indians.  It  was  erected  about  1797. 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 


INVENTORY   OF  ABRAHAM   LINCOLN'S   ESTATE.* — NOW   FIRST 

PUBLISHED. 

"  At  the  meeting  of  the  Nelson  County  Court,  October  10, 1788, 
present  Benjamin  Pope,  James  Rogers,  Gabriel  Cox,  and  James 
Baird,  on  the  motion  of  John  Coldwell,  he  was  appointed  admin 
istrator  of  the  goods  and  chattels  of  Abraham  Lincoln,  and  gave 
bond  in  one  thousand  pounds,  with  Richard  Parker  security. 

u  At  the  same  time  John  Alvary,  Peter  Syburt,  Christopher 
Boston,  and  William  [John  (?)]  Stuck,  or  any  three  of  them,  were 
appointed  appraisers. 

"March  10,   1789,  the  appraisers  made  the  following  return : 


£ 


d. 


1  Sorrel  horse  . 

1  Black  horse   . 

1  Red  cow  and  calf  . 

1  Brindle  cow  and  calf 

1  Red  cow  and  calf  . 

1  Brindle  bull  yearling 

1  Brindle  heifer  yearling 

Bar  spear-plough  and  tackl  ng 
3  Weeding  hoes 

Flax  wheel    .        I 
•  Pair  smoothing-irons 

1  Dozen  pewter  plates 

2  Pewter  dishes 

Dutch  oven  and  cule,  weighing  15  pounds 

Small  iron  kettle  and  cule,  weighing  12  pounds 

Tool  adds       . 

Hand-saw 

One-inch  auger 

Three-quarter  auger 

Half -inch  auger 

Drawing-knife 

Curr^ing-knife 

Currier's  knife  and  barking  iron 

Old  smooth-bar  gun 

Rifle  gun 

Rifle  gun 
2  Pott  trammels 
1  Featherbed  and  furniture 

Ditto      .... 
1  Bed  and  turkey  feathers  and  furniture 

Steeking-iron 

Candle-stick  , 

One  axe 

£68      16s.      Qd. 
PETER  SYBURT, 
CHRISTOPHER  BOSTON, 
JOHN  STUCK." 

~  this  interesting  document  to  the  courtesy  of  R.  T.  Durrett  LL  D    of 
Louisville,  Kentucky,  a  gentleman  who  for  many  years  has  made  a  specialty  of  the  pio 
neer  history  of  his  State,  and  through  whose  energetic  and  intelligent  researches  most 
xmments  concerning  the  pioneer  Abraham  Lincoln  have  been  unearthed 


9 

10 

4 

10 

4 

10 

5 

1 

1 

2 

5 

7 

6 

6 

15 

1 

10 

17 

6 

15 

12 

10 

5 

6 

4 

6 

3 

3 

10 

6 

10 

55 

3 

10 

14 

5 

10 

8 

5 

1 

10 

1 

6 

1 

6 

9 

LINCOLN'S  STORY-TELLING    UNCLE. 


Soon  after  the  death  of  Abraham 
Lincoln,  his  widow  moved  from  Jef 
ferson  County  to  Washington  Coun 
ty.  The  eldest  son,  Mordecai,  who 
inherited  nearly  all  of  the  large 
estate,  became  a  well-to-do  and 
popular  citizen.  The  deed-book  of 
Washington  County  still  contains  a 
number  of  records  of  lands  bought 
and  sold  by  him.  At  one  time  he 
was  sheriff  of  his  county,  and,  again, 
its  representative  in  the  legislature 
of  the  State.  Mordecai  Lincoln  is 
remembered  especially  for  his  sport 
ing  tastes  and  his  bitter  hatred  of 
the  Indians.  General  U.  F.  Linder 
of  Illinois,  who,  as  a  boy,  lived  near 
Mordecai  Lincoln  in  Kentucky, 
says  :  "I  knew  him  from  my  boy 
hood,  and  he  WaS  naturally  a  man  Hanks.  Christopher  Columbus  Graham,  who 

of  considerable  genius  ;  he  was  a 
man  of  great  drollery,  and  it  would 
almost  make  you  la.ugh  to  look  at 
him.  I  never  saw  but  one  other 
man  whose  quiet,  droll  laugh  ex 
cited  in  me  the  same  disposition  to  ^  to  me  on  religion  and  po]itice5  for  l 
laugh,  and  that  was  Artemus  Ward,  always  liked  the  Methodists,  i  have  thought 
He  was  quite  a  story-teller.  He  was 
an  honest  man,  as  tender-hearted  as 
a  woman,  and,  to  the  last  degree, 
charitable  and  benevolent. 

"Lincoln  had  a  very  high  opinion 
of  his  uncle,  and  on  one  occasion 
said  to  me  :   '  Linder,  I  have  often 
said  that  Uncle  Mord  had  run  off  with  all  the  talents  of  the 
family.' 

"Old  Mord,  as  we  sometimes  called  him,  had  been  in  his 
younger  days  a  very  stout  man,  and  was  quite  fond  of  playing  a 
game  of  fisticuffs  with  any  one  who  was  noted  as  a  champion. 
His  sons  and  daughters  were  not  talented  like  the  old  man,  but 
were  very  sensible  people,  noted  for  their  honesty  and  kindness 


THE   REV.   JESSE  HEAD. 

From  an  original  drawing  in  the  possession 
of  R.  T.  Durrett,  LL.D.,  of  Louisville,  Ken 
tucky.  The  Rev.  Jesse  Head  was  a  Methodist 
preacher  of  Washington  County,  Kentucky, 
who  married  Thomas  Lincoln  and  Nancy 


was  at  the  wedding,  and  who  knew  Mr.  Head 
well,  says  :  "  Jesse  Head,  the  good  Methodist 
preacher  who  married  them,  was  also  a  car 
penter  or  cabinet-maker  by  trade,  and,  as  he 
was  then  a  neighbor,  they  were  good  friends. 
He  had  a  quarrel  with  the  bishops,  and  was 
an  itinerant  for  several  years,  but  an  editor 
and  county  judge  afterwards  in  Harrods- 
burg.  .  .  .  The  preacher,  Jesse  Head,  often 


it  might  have  been  as  much  from  his  free- 
spoken  opinions  as  from  Henry  Clay's  Ameri 
can-African  colonization  scheme,  in  1817,  that 
I  lost  a  likely  negro  man,  who  was  leader 
of  my  musicians.  .  .  .  But  Jesse  Head 
never  encouraged  any  runaway,  nor  had  any 
'underground  railroad.'  He  only  talked 
freely  and  boldly,  and  had  plenty  of  true 
Southern  men  with  him,  such  as  Clay." — 
See  Appendix. 


30 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 


a^^rU 


<r 

MARRIAGE   BOND  OF  THOMAS   LINCOLN. 

From  a  tracing  of  the  original,  made  by  Henry  Whitney  Cleveland. 

of  heart."    Mordecai   remained  in  Kentucky  until  late  in  life, 
when  he  removed  to  Hancock  County,  Illinois. 

Of  Josiah,  the  second  son,  we  know  very  little  more  than  that 
the  records  show  that  he  owned  and  sold  land.  He  left  Kentucky 
when  a  young  man,  to  settle  on  the  Blue  River,  in  Harrison 
County,  Indiana,  and  there  he  died.  The  two  daughters  married 
into  well-known  Kentucky  families :  the  elder,  Mary,  marrying 
Ralph  Crume ;  the  younger,  Nancy,  William  Brumfield. 


THOMAS   LINCOLN'S   BOYHOOD   AND   YOUNG   MANHOOD. 

The  death  of  Abraham  Lincoln  was  saddest  for  the  youngest 
of  the  children,  a  lad  of  ten  years  at  the  time,  named  Thomas,  for 


DESCRIPTION  OF  LINCOLN'S  FATHER.  31 


MARRIAGE   CERTIFICATE   OF   THOMAS   LINCOLN   AND   NANCY   HANKS.— HITHERTO   UNPUBLISHED. 

From  the  original,  in  the  possession  of  Henry  Whitney  Cleveland  of  Louisville,  Kentucky.  This 
interesting  document,  discovered  by  Mr.  Cleveland,  and  published  for  the  first  time  in  this  biography, 
completes  the  list  of  documentary  evidence  of  the  marriage  of  Thomas  Lincoln  and  Nancy  Hanks.  The 
bond  given  by  Thomas  Lincoln  and  the  returns  of  Jesse  Head,  the  officiating  clergyman,  were  discovered 
some  years  ago,  but  the  marriage  certificate  was  unknown  until  recently  discovered  by  Mr.  Cleveland. 

it  turned  him  adrift  to  become  a  "  wandering  laboring-boy" 
before  he  had  learned  even  to  read.  Thomas  seems  not  to  have 
inherited  any  of  the  father's  estate,  and  from  the  first  to  have 
been  obliged  to  shift  for  himself.  For  several  years  he  supported 
himself  by  rough  farm  work  of  all  kinds,  learning,  in  the  mean 
time,  the  trade  of  carpenter  and  cabinet-maker.  According  to 
one  of  his  acquaintances,  "Tom  had  the  best  set  of  tools  in 
what  was  then  and  now  Washington  County,"  and  was  "a  good 
carpenter  for  those  days,  when  a  cabin  was  built  mainly  with 
the  axe,  and  not  a  nail  or  bolt-hinge  in  it ;  only  leathers  and 
pins  to  the  door,  and  no  glass,  except  in  watches  and  spectacles 
and  bottles."  *  Although  a  skilful  craftsman  for  his  day,  he 
never  became  a  thrifty  or  ambitious  man.  "He  would  work 
energetically  enough  when  a  job  was  brought  to  him,  but  he 
would  never  seek  a  job."  But  if  Thomas  Lincoln  plied  his  trade 
spasmodically,  he  shared  the  pioneer's  love  for  land,  for  when 
but  twenty-five  years  old,  and  still  without  the  responsibility  of 
a  family,  he  bought  a  farm  in  Hard  in  County,  Kentucky.  None 
of  his  biographers  have  ever  called  attention  to  this  fact,  if  they 
knew  it.  A  search  made  for  this  work  in  the  records  of  Hardin 

*  Christopher  Columbus  Graham,  as  reported  by  H.  W.  Cleveland  of  Louisville,  Ky., 
in  an  interview  in  1884,  in  Mr.  Graham's  hundredth  year,  and  never  before  published. 


>    ^     '•-•** 


ct^^-t^**'  <&~s£  /2u4j  ^ 


24^2&5Kl|^< 


wtf- 

szr*S'6lL*> ' M<>t>  ZkCaJ •&»<*" >"~r 'py  "  J~*   # 

£f$«  '&^l%**£5i 


KETUKN  OF  MARRIAGE    OF  THOMAS  LINCOLN  AND  NANCY  HANKS 

^rf^^ 


LINCOLN   IN   FEBRUARY,    1860,    AT   THE   TIME   OP  THE  COOPER   INSTITUTE   SPEECH. 

Prom  a  photograph  by  Brady.  The  debate  with  Douglas  in  1858  gave  Lincoln  a  national  reputation,  and  the  following  year 
he  received  many  invitations  to  lecture.  One  came  from  a  young  men's  Republican  club  in  New  York, — which  was  offering  a 
series  of  lectures  designed  for  an  audience  of  men  and  women  of  the  class  apt  to  neglect  ordinary  political  meetings.  Lincoln 
consented,  and'in  February,  1860  (about  three  months  before  his  nomination  for  the  Presidency),  delivered  what  is  known, 
from  the  hall  in  which  it  was  delivered,  as  the  "  Cooper  Institute  speech  " — a  speech  which  more  than  confirmed  his  reputa 
tion.  While  in  New  York  he  was  taken  by  the  committee  of  entertainment  to  Brady's  gallery,  and  sat  for  the  portrait  repro 
duced  above.  It  was  a  frequent  remark  with  Lincoln  that  this  portrait  and  the  Cooper  Institute  speech  made  him  President. 
8 


From  a  photograph  by  Klauber  of  Louisville,  Kentucky.  Mr.  Graham,  born  in  1784,  lived 
until  1885,  and  was  the  only  man  of  our  generation  who  could  be  called  a  contemporary  of 
Thomas  Lincoln  and  Nancy  Hanks.  Long  before  the  documentary  evidence  of  their  marriage 
was  found,  Mr.  Graham  gave  his  reminiscences  of  that  event.  Recent  discoveries  made  in  the 
public  records  of  Kentucky  regarding  the  Lincolns,  bear  out  in  every  particular  his  recollections. 
He  is,  in  fact,  the  most  important  witness  we  have  as  to  the  character  of  the  parents  of  President 
Lincoln  and  their  condition  in  life.  The  accuracy  of  his  memory  and  the  trustworthiness  of  his 
character  are  affirmed  by  the  leading  citizens  of  Louisville,  Kentucky,  of  which  city  he  was  a 
resident.  In  the  Appendix  will  be  found  a  full  statement  by  Mr.  Graham  of  what  he  knew  of 
Thomas  Lincoln  and  his  life. 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 


' 


FACSIMILE   OF  A   PASSAGE   FROM   LINCOLN'S   EXERCISE-BOOK. 

County  first  revealed  it  to  us,  and  we  cannot  but  regard  it  as  of 
importance,  proving  as  it  does  that  Thomas  Lincoln  was  not  the 
shiftless  man  he  has  hitherto  been  pictured.  Certainly  he  must 
have  been  above  the  grade  of  the  ordinary  country  boy,  to  have 
had  the  energy  and  ambition  to  learn  a  trade  and  secure  a  farm 
through  his  own  efforts  by  the  time  he  was  twenty-five.  He 
was  illiterate,  never  doing  more  ' '  in  the  way  of  writing  than  to 
bunglingly  write  his  own  name."  Nevertheless,  he  had  the 
reputation  in  the  country  of  being  good-natured  and  obliging, 
and  possessing  what  his  neighbors  called  "good  strong  horse- 
sense."  Although  he  was  "a  very  quiet  sort  of  man,"  he  was 
known  to  be  determined  in  his  opinions,  and  quite  competent  to 
defend  his  rights  by  force  if  they  were  too  flagrantly  violated. 
He  was  a  moral  man,  and,  in  the  crude  way  of  the  pioneer, 
religious. 

Thomas  Lincoln  learned  his  trade  as  carpenter  in  Elizabeth- 
town,  in  the  shop  of  one  Joseph  Hanks.     There  he  met  a  niece 


MARRIAGE  OF   THOMAS  LINCOLN  AND  NANCY  HANKS.     37 


HOUSE  IN  WHICH  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN  WAS  BORN. — HITHERTO   UNPUBLISHED. 

Thomas  Lincoln  moved  into  this  cabin  on  the  Big  South  Fork  of  Nolin  Creek,  three  miles  from  Hod- 
gensville,  in  La  Rue  County,  Kentucky,  in  1808  ;  and  here,  on  February  12,  1809,  Abraham  Lincoln  was 
born.  In  1813  the  Lincolns  removed  to  Knob  Creek.  The  Nolin  Creek  farm  has  been  known  as  the  "  Creal 
Farm"  for  many  years;  recently  it  was  bought  by  New  York  people.  The  cabin  was  long  ago  torn 
down,  but  the  logs  were  saved.  The  new  owners,  in  August,  1895,  rebuilt  the  old  cabin  on  the  original 
site.  This,  the  first  and  only  picture  which  has  been  taken  of  it,  wa's  made  for  this  biography. 

of  his  employer,  Nancy  Hanks,  whom,  when  he  was  twenty  - 
eight  years  old,  he  married.  Nancy  Hanks  was,  like  her  hus 
band,  a  Virginian.  Her  experience  in  life  had,  too,  been  similar 
to  her  husband's,  for  the  Hanks  family  had  been  drawn  into 
Kentucky  by  the  fascination  of  Boone,  as  had  the  Lincolns.  But 
it  was  only  in  her  surroundings  and  her  family  that  Nancy 
Hanks  was  like  Thomas  Lincoln.  In  nature,  in  education,  and 
in  ambition  she  was,  if  tradition  is  to  be  believed,  quite  another 
person.  Certainly  a  fair  and  delicate  woman,  who  could  read 
and  write,  who  had  ideas  of  refinement,  and  a  desire  to  get  more 
from  life  than  fortune  had  allotted  her,  was  hardly  enough  like 
Thomas  Lincoln  to  be  very  happy  with  him.  She  was  still  more 
unfit  to  be  his  wife  because  of  a  sensitive  nature  which  made 
her  brood  over  her  situation — a  situation  made  the  more  hope- 


38 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 


HOLY  SIBLE, 

!    <'N  rA-iMIMfl  ' 


T  s: 
RGUMENTS 


MOHAI,    AND   THEOLOGICAL  ' 

OBSERVATIONS  'H 


THOMAS  LINCOLN'S  BIBLE.— NOW  FIRST  PUBLISHED. 

From  the  original,  in  the  collection  of  O.  H.  Oldroyd,  Washington,  D.  C.  It  is  not  known  when  or 
how  Thomas  Lincoln  obtained  this  Bible.  After  his  death  it  passed  to  his  step-children,  the  Johnstons, 
and  was  sold  by  them  to  the  "  Lincoln  Log  Cabin  Company,1'  to  be  exhibited  at  the  World's  Fair.  It  was 
purchased  from  this  company  for  the  Oldroyd  collection.  The  family  record,  reproduced  on  pages  58  and 
59,  belongs  to  this  Bible.  It  was  taken  out  and  sold  to  Mr.  C.  F.  Gunther  before  the  Bible  was  sold 
to  Mr.  Oldroyd. 

less  by  the  fact  that  she  had  neither  the  force  of  character  nor 
strength  of  body  to  do  anything  to  improve  it ;  if,  indeed,  she 
had  any  clear  notion  of  what  it  lacked.  Hers  was  that  pitiful 
condition  where  one  feels  with  vague  restlessness  that  life  has 
something  better  than  one  has  found,  something  not  seen  or 
understood,  but  without  which  life  will  never  be  complete. 

Thomas  and  Nancy  Lincoln  were  married  near  Beechland,  in 
Washington  County,  Kentucky,  on  June  12, 1806.  The  wedding 
was  celebrated  in  the  boisterous  style  of  one  hundred  years  ago, 
and  was  followed  by  an  infare,  given  by  the  bride's  guardian. 


VIEW  OF  ROCK  SPRING  FARM,  WHERE    PRESIDENT  LINCOLN  WAS  BORN. 

Prom  a  photograph  taken  in  September,  1895,  for  this  biography.  The  house  in  which  Lincoln 
was  born  is  seen  to  the  right,  in  the  background.  Rock  Spring  is  in  a  hollow,  under  a  clump  of  trees,  in 
the  left  centre  of  the  picture. 


ROCK  SPRING  ON  THE  FARM  WHERE  LINCOLN  WAS  BORN . 

Prom  a  photograph  taken  in  September,  1895,  for  this  biography.     The  spring  is  in  a  hollow  at  the  foot 
of  the  gentle  slope  on  the  top  of  which  the  house  stands. 


40  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 

To  this  celebration  came  all  the  neighbors,  and,  according  to  that 
entertaining  Kentucky  centenarian,  Dr.  Christopher  Columbus 
Graham,  even  those  who  happened  in  the  neighborhood  were 
made  welcome.  He  tells  how  he  heard  of  the  wedding  while 
"out  hunting  for  roots,"  and  went  "  just  to  get  a  good  supper." 
"I  saw  Nancy  Hanks  Lincoln  at  her  wedding,"  continues  Mr. 
Graham,  "a  fresh-looking  girl,  I  should  say  over  twenty.  I 
was  at  the  infare,  too,  given  by  John  H.  Parrott,  her  guardian— 
and  only  girls  with  money  had  guardians  appointed  by  the  court. 
We  had  bear-meat ;  .  .  .  venison  ;  wild  turkey  and  ducks  ; 
eggs,  wild  and  tame,  so  common  that  you  could  buy  them  at  two 
bits  a  bushel ;  maple  sugar,  swung  on  a  string,  to  bite  off  for 
coffee  or  whiskey ;  syrup  in  big  gourds ;  peach-and-honey  ;  a 
sheep  that  the  two  families  barbecued  whole  over  coals  of  wood 
burned  in  a  pit,  and  covered  with  green  boughs  to  keep  the 
juices  in  ;  and  a  race  for  the  whiskey  bottle." 

After  his  marriage  Thomas  Lincoln  settled  in  Elizabethtown. 
His  home  was  a  log  cabin,  but  at  that  date  few  people  in  the 
State  had  anything  else.  Kentucky  had  been  in  the  Union  only 
fourteen  years.  When  admitted,  the  few  brick  structures  within 
its  boundaries  were  easily  counted,  and  there  were  only  log 
schoolhouses  and  churches.  Fourteen  years  had  brought  great 
improvements,  but  the  majority  of  the  population  still  lived  in 
log  cabins,  so  that  the  home  of  Thomas  Lincoln  was  as  good 
as  those  of  most  of  his  neighbors.  Little  is  known  of  his  posi 
tion  in  Elizabethtown,  though  we  have  proof  that  he  had  credit 
in  the  community,  for  the  descendants  of  two  of  the  early  store 
keepers  of  the  place  still  remember  seeing  on  their  grandfathers' 
account  books  sundry  items  charged  to  T.  Lincoln.  Tools  and 
groceries  were  the  chief  purchases  he  made,  though  on  one  of  the 
ledgers  a  pair  of  "  silk  suspenders,"  worth  one  dollar  and  fifty 
cents,  was  entered.  He  not  only  enjoyed  a  certain  credit  with 
the  merchants  of  Elizabethtown  ;  he  was  sufficiently  respected 
by  the  public  authorities  to  be  appointed  in  1816  a  road  surveyor, 
or,  as  the  office  is  known  in  some  localities,  supervisor.  It  was 
not,  to  be  sure,  a  position  of  great  importance,  but  it  proves 
that  he  was  considered  fit  to  oversee  a  body  of  men  at  a  task  of 
considerable  value  to  the  community.  Indeed,  all  of  the  docu 
ments  which  we  have  been  able  to  discover,  mentioning  Thomas 
Lincoln,  show  him  to  have  had  a  much  better  position  in  Hardin 
County  than  he  has  been  credited  with. 


LINCOLN  IN  1858. — HITHERTO    UNPUBLISHED. 

After  a  faded  ambrotype  of  Mr.  Lincoln,  now  in  the  Lincoln  Monument  col 
lection  at  Springfield,  Illinois.  All  that  is  known  of  it  is  that  it  was  taken  at 
Beardstown  in  1858.  Mr.  Lincoln  wore  a  linen  coat  on  the  occasion.  The  pict 
ure  is  regarded  as  a  good  likeness  of  him  as  he  appeared  during  the  Lincoln 
Douglas  campaign. 


^•^     -^" — x 

t_,&tf~^ 

CfstifoA— XrC<% 


APPOINTMENT  OP  THOMAS  LINCOLN  AS  ROAD   SURVEYOR.— HITHERTO  UNPUBLISHED. 

From  a  tracing  made  by  Henry  Whitney  Cleveland.  The  original  of  this  document  is  in  the  records  of 
Hardin  County,  at  Elizabethtown,  Kentucky.  It  has  hitherto  been  entirely  overlooked  by  the  biographers 
of  Lincoln,  and  was  discovered  in  the  course  of  a  search  for  documents  instituted  for  this  work.  The 
appointment  was  made  on  May  13,  1816,  only  a  few  months  before  the  Lincolns  moved  to  Indiana.  It 
shows  that  Thomas  Lincoln  had  a  standing  in  the  community,  which  his  biographers  have  always  ignored. 
The  appointment,  if  modest,  would  not  have  been  made,  we  have  a  right  to  believe,  if  Lincoln  had  been 
the  "  easy-going  "  and  idle  fellow  he  has  been  asserted  to  be. 


CHAPTER   II. 

THE    BIRTH    OF    ABRAHAM    LINCOLN.— HIS    EARLY    EDUCATION    AND 

FRIENDS. 


T  was  at  Elizabethtow'n  that  the  first  child  of  the 
Lincolns  was  born,  a  daughter.      Soon  after  this 
event  Thomas  Lincoln  decided  to  combine  farm 
ing  with  his  trade,  and  moved  to  the  farm  he  had 
bought  in  1803  on  the  Big  South  Fork  of  Nolin 
Creek,  in  Hardin  County,  now  La  Rue  County, 
three  miles  from  Hodgensville,  and  about  four 
teen  miles  from  Elizabethtown.     Here  he  was 
living  when,   on  February  12,  1809,  his  second 
child,  a  boy,  was  born.     The  little  new-comer  was  called  Abra 
ham,  after  his  grandfather — a  name  which  had  persisted  through 
many  preceding  generations  of  the  Lincolns. 

The  home  into  which  the  child  came  was  the  ordinary  one  of 
the  poorer  Western  pioneer — a  one-roomed  cabin  with  a  huge  out 
side  chimney,  no  windows,  and  only  a  rude  door.  The  descrip 
tions  of  its  squalor  and  wretchedness,  which  are  so  familiar,  have 
been  overdrawn.  Dr.  Graham,  than  whom  there  is  no  better 
authority  on  the  life  of  that  day,  and  who  knew  Thomas  Lincoln 
well,  declares : 

"  It  is  all  stuff  about  Tom  Lincoln  keeping  his  wife  in  an  open 


LINCOLN'S  CHILDHOOD  HOME. 


43 


shed  in  a  winter  when  the  wild 
animals  left  the  woods  and  stood 
in  the  corners  next  the  stick-and- 
clay  chimneys,  so  as  not  to  freeze 
to  death ;  or,  if  climbers,  got  on 
the  roof.  The  Lincolns  had  a  cow 
and  calf,  milk  and  butter,  a  good 
feather  bed, — for  I  have  slept  in  it, 
while  they  took  the  buffalo-robes 
on  the  floor,  because  I  was  a 
doctor.  They  had  home-woven 
'kiverlids,'  big  and  little  pots,  a 
loom  and  wheel ;  and  William 
Hardesty,  who  was  there  too,  can 
say  with  me  that  Tom  Lincoln 
was  a  man,  and  took  care  of  his 
wife." 

The  Lincoln  home  was  un 
doubtedly  rude,  and  in  many  ways 
uncomfortable,  but  it  sheltered  a 
happy  family,  and  its  poverty  af 
fected  the  new  child  but  little. 
He  was  robust  and  active  ;  and 
life  is  full  of  interest  to  the  child 
fortunate  enough  to  be  born  in 
the  country.  He  had  several  com 
panions.  There  was  his  sister 
Nancy,  or  Sarah — both  names  are 
given  her — two  years  his  senior  ; 
there  was  a  cousin  of  his  mother's, 
ten  years  older,  Dennis  Hanks,  an 
active  and  ingenious  leader  in 
sports  and  mischief ;  and  there 
were  the  neighbors'  boys.  One  of 
the  latter,  Austin  Gollaher,  still 
tells  with  pleasure  of  how  he 

DEED   OF   SALE    SIGNED   BY   THOMAS   LINCOLN   AND   WIFE. — HITHERTO    UNPUBLISHED. 

The  Book  of  Deeds  in  Hardin  County,  Kentucky,  shows  that  in  1803,  three  years  before  his  marriage, 
Thomas  Lincoln  bought  a  farm  in  Hardin  County.  The  same  records  contain  a  deed  of  the  sale  in  1814  of 
this  same  farm,  it  is  supposed,  signed  by  Thomas  Lincoln.  The  deed  is  evidently  written  and  signed  by  one 
person.  Nancy  Lincoln  affixes  her  mark.  This  is  not  proof  that  she  could  not  write  ;  it  not  infrequently 
happens  that  people  in  remote  country  districts  make  a  mark  rather  than  labor  with  a  pen,  to  which  they 
are  unaccustomed.  All  accounts  of  Nancy  Lincoln  agree  that  she  was  well  educated  for  her  day. 


44 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 


played  with  young  Lin 
coln  in  the  shavings  of 
his  father's  carpenter 
shop,  of  how  he  hunted 
coons  and  ran  the  woods 
with  him,  and  once  even 
saved  his  life. 

"Yes,"  said  Mr.  Gol- 
laher,  "  the  story  that  I 
once  saved  Abraham  Lin 
coln' s  life  is  true,  but  it 
is  not  correct  as  gen 
erally  related. 

' '  Abraham  Lincoln 
and  I  had  been  going  to 
school  together  for  a 
year  or  more,  and  had 
become  greatly  attached 
to  each  other.  Then 
school  disbanded  on  ac 
count  of  there  being  so 
few  scholars,  and  we  did 
not  see  each  other  much 
for  a  long  while.  One 
Sunday  my  mother 
visited  the  Lincolns,  and 
I  was  taken  along.  Abe 
and  I  played  around  all 
day.  Finally,  we  con 
cluded  to  cross  the  creek  to  hunt  for  some  partridges  young 
Lincoln  had  seen  the  day  before.  The  creek  was  swollen  by  a 
recent  rain,  and,  in  crossing  on  the  narrow  footlog,  Abe  fell  in. 
Neither  of  us  could  swim.  I  got  a  long  pole  and  held  it  out 
to  Abe,  who  grabbed  it.  Then  I  pulled  him  ashore.  He  was 
almost  dead,  and  I  was  badly  scared.  I  rolled  and  pounded 
him  in  good  earnest.  Then  I  got  him  by  the  arms  and  shook 
him,  the  water  meanwhile  pouring  out  of  his  mouth.  By  this 
means  I  succeeded  in  bringing  him  to,  and  he  was  soon  all  right. 
"  Then  a  new  difficulty  confronted  us.  If  our  mothers  dis 
covered  our  wet  clothes  they  would  whip  us.  This  we  dreaded 
from  experience,  and  determined  to  avoid.  It  was  June,  the 


A   KENTUCKY   HAND-MILL. 

From  a  photograph  of  the  original,  owned  by  R.  T. 
Durrett,  LL.D.,  of  Louisville,  Kentucky.  This  mill  was 
formerly  the  property  of  Joseph  Brooks,  a  prominent  pioneer 
of  Kentucky.  Similar  ones  were  used  by  all  Western  pio 
neers. 


Geo.  WStadly  A  Co.,  Boston 
MAP  SHOWING  POINTS  OF  INTEREST  IN  LINCOLN'S  EARLY  LIFE.— MADE   SPECIALLY  FOR  THIS  BIOGRAPHY. 

The  above  map  shows  where  Abraham  Lincoln's  grandfather  first  took  land  in  Kentucky,  where  his  father  and  mother 
were  married,  where  they  first  lived,  where  he  was  born,  and  where  he  lived  from  1809  to  1816.  It  shows  the  Rolling  Fork, 
Salt  River,  and  the  Ohio,  which  Thomas  Lincoln  followed  in  going  into  Indiana  in  1816 ;  the  new  home  in  Indiana ;  the 
point  where  Lincoln  kept  the  ferry  about  1826 ;  Boonville,  where  he  went  to  hear  trials  ;  the  grave  of  his  mother  ;  the 
route  by  which  it  is  supposed  he  went  to  Illinois  in  1830  (see  page  87  for  note  correcting  this  route);  the  location  of  both  of 
Thomas  Lincoln's  farms  in  Illinois,  and  his  grave,  near  Farmington,  Coles  County.  Sangamon,  New  Salem,  Vandalia,  Spring 
field,  and  the  chief  places  where  Mr.  Lincoln  practised  law  are  shown,  as  well  as  the  points  where  the  Lincoln  and  Douglas 
debates  and  the  important  political  events  of  the  campaign  of  1860  took  place. 


46  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 


t 


ABRAHAM   LINCOLN'S  INDIANA  HOME. 


After  an  old  photograph  showing  the  cabin  as  it  appeared  in  1869.  Thomas  Lincoln  built  this 
house  in  1817,  and  moved  into  it  about  a  year  after  he  reached  his  farm.  At  first  it  had  neither 
windows,  door,  nor  floor ;  but  after  the  advent  of  Sally  Bush  Lincoln  it  was  greatly  improved. 
When  he  decided  to  leave  Indiana  he  was  preparing  the  lumber  for  a  better  house. 

sun  was  very  warm,  and  we  soon  dried  our  clothing  by  spread 
ing  it  on  the  rocks  about  us.  We  promised  never  to  tell  the 
story,  and  I  never  did  until  after  Lincoln's  tragic  end. 

"  Abraham  Lincoln  had  a  sister.  Her  name  was  Sallie,  and 
she  was  a  very  pretty  girl.  Sallie  Lincoln  was  about  my  age ; 
she  was  my  sweetheart.  I  loved  her  and  claimed  her,  as  boys 
do.  I  suppose  that  was  one  reason  for  my  warm  regard  for  Abe. 
When  the  Lincoln  family  moved  to  Indiana,  I  was  prevented 
by  circumstances  from  bidding  good-by  to  either  of  the  children, 
and  I  never  saw  them  again."  * 

All  the  young  people  went  to  school.  At  that  day  the 
schools  in  the  West  were  usually  accidental,  depending  upon 
the  coming  of  some  poor  and  ambitious  young  man  who  was 
willing  to  teach  a  few  terms  while  he  looked  for  an  opening  to 
something  better.  The  terms  were  irregular,  their  length  being 
decided  by  the  time  the  settlers  felt  able  to  board  the  master 
and  pay  his  small  salary.  The  chief  qualification  for  a  school 
master  seems  to  have  been  enough  strength  to  keep  the  "big- 
boys"  in  order,  though  one  high  authority  affirms  that  pluck 
went  ufor  a  heap  sight  more'n  sinnoo  with  boys." 

*  Unpublished  MS.  of  an  interview  with  Austin  Gollaher,  by  D.  J.  Thomas. 


LINCOLN'S  SCHOOL   TEACHERS. 


LINCOLN  FAKM  IN  INDIANA. 

From  a  photograph  taken  for  this  biography.  Present  appearance  of  the  quarter  section  of  govern 
ment  land  in  Spencer  County,  Indiana,  entered  by  Thomas  Lincoln,  October  15,  1817,  view  looking  east. 
Thomas  Lincoln  selected  this  tract  in  1816,  and,  to  identify  it,  he  blazed  the  trees,  and  piled  up  brush  at 
the  corners  to  establish  boundary  lines.  When  he  returned  with  his  family  he  was  obliged  to  cut  his  way 
to  the  spot  chosen  for  his  cabin,  and  to  fell  trees  to  find  space  for  the  "half-face  camp  "  in  which  he  first 
lived.  This  land  was  entered  under  the  old  credit  system.  Later  Mr.  Lincoln  gave  up  to  the  United 
States  the  east  half,  and  the  amount  paid  on  it  was  passed  to  his  credit  to  complete  paying  for  the  west 
half.  The  patent  issued  for  the  latter  tract  was  dated  Jane  6,  1827. 

Many  of  the  itinerant  masters  were  Catholics — strolling  Irish 
men  from  the  colony  in  Tennessee,  or  French  priests  from  Kas- 
kaskia.  Lincoln's  first  teacher,  Zachariah  Riney,  was  a  Catholic. 
Of  his  second  teacher,  Caleb  Hazel,  we  know  even  less  than  of 
Riney.  Mr.  Gollaher  says  that  Abraham  Lincoln,  in  those  days 
when  he  was  his  schoolmate,  was  "an  unusually  bright  boy  at 
school,  and  made  splendid  progress  in  his  studies.  Indeed,  he 
learned  faster  than  any  of  his  schoolmates.  Though  so  young, 
he  studied  very  hard.  He  would  get  spice-wood  brushes,  hack 
them  up  on  a  log,  and  burn  them  two  or  three  together,  for  the 
purpose  of  giving  light  by  which  he  might  pursue  his  studies." 


48  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 

Probably  the  boy's  mother  had  something  to  do  with  the 
spice-wood  illuminations.  Tradition  has  it  that  Mrs.  Lincoln  took 
great  pains  to  teach  her  children  what  she  knew,  and  that  at  her 
knee  they  heard  all  the  Bible  lore,  fairy  tales,  and  country  legends 
that  she  had  been  able  to  gather  in  her  poor  life. 

Besides  the  "A  B  C  schools,"  as  Lincoln  called  them,  the 
only  other  medium  of  education  in  the  country  districts  of  Ken 
tucky  in  those  days  was  "  preaching."  Itinerants  like  the  school 
masters,  the  preachers,  of  whatever  denomination,  were  generally 
uncouth  and  illiterate  ;  the  code  of  morals  they  taught  was 
mainly  a  healthy  one,  and  they,  no  doubt,  did  much  to  keep  the 
consciences  of  the  pioneers  awake.  It  is  difficult  to  believe  that 
they  ever  did  much  for  the  moral  training  of  young  Lincoln, 
though  he  certainly  got  his  first  notion  of  public  speaking  from 
them  ;  and  for  years  in  his  boyhood  one  of  his  chief  delights  was 
to  get  his  playmates  about  him,  and  preach  and  thump  until  he 
had  his  auditors  frightened  or  in  tears. 


GRAVE  OF  NANCY  HANKS  LINCOLN. 

From  a  photograph  loaned  by  W.  W.  Admire.  The  grave  of  Abraham  Lincoln's  mother  is  on  a 
wooded  knoll  about  half  a  mile  southeast  of  the  site  of  her  Indiana  home.  Near  her  are  buried  Thomas 
and  Betsey  Sparrow,  who  followed  the  Lincolns  to  Indiana,  and  who  died  a  few  days  before  Mrs. 
Lincoln,  and  of  the  same  disease  ;  and  also  Levi  Hall  and  his  wife,  who  died  several  years  later.  There 
are  two  or  three  other  graves  in  the  vicinity.  Until  1879  the  only  mark  about  the  grave  of  Nancy  Lincoln 
was  the  names  of  visitors  to  the  spot,  cut  in  the  bark  of  the  trees  which  shaded  it ;  then  Mr.  P.  E. 
Studebaker  of  South  Bend,  Indiana,  erected  the  stone,  and  soon  after  a  fence  was  purchased  by  a  few  of 
the  leading  citizens  of  Rockport,  Indiana.  The  inscription  on  the  stone  runs  :  "  Nancy  Hanks  Lincoln, 
Mother  of  President  Lincoln,  died  October  5,  A.D.,  1818.  Aged  thirty -five  years.  Erected  by  a  friend  of 
her  martyred  eon." 


LINCOLN   IN   1857. 

From  a  photograph  loaned  by  H.  W.  Fay  of  De  Kalb,  Illinois.  The  original  was  taken 
early  in  1857  by  Alexander  Ilesler  of  Chicago.  Mr.  Fay  writes  of  the  picture  :  "  I  have  a  letter 
from  Mr.  Hesler  stating  that  one  of  the  lawyers  came  in  and  made  arrangements  for  the  sit 
ting,  so  that  the  members  of  the  bar  could  get  prints.  Lincoln  said  at  the  time  that  he  did  not 
know  why  the  boys  wanted  such  a  homely  face.1'1  Mr.  Joseph  Medill  of  Chicago  went  with 
Mr.  Lincoln  to  have  the  picture  taken.  He  says  that  the  photographer  insisted  on  smoothing 
down  Lincoln's  hair,  but  Lincoln  did  not  like  the  result,  and  ran  his  fingers  through  it  before 
sitting.  The  original  negative  was  burned  in  the  Chicago  fire. 

4 


r 

MARRIAGE    LICENSE    OF    THOMAS    LINCOLN    AND    SARAH    JOHNSTON.— NOW    FIRST    PUBLISHED. 

From  a  tracing  made  by  Henry  Whitney  Cleveland. 


CHAPTER  III. 

THE    LINCOLNS    LEAVE     KENTUCKY.— THEY    SETTLE    IN    SOUTHERN 
INDIANA.— CONDITIONS   OF  LIFE  IN  THEIR  NEW  HOME. 


nation 
turous, 


1816  a  great  event  happened  to  the  little  boy. 
His  father  emigrated  to  Indiana  from  Knob 
Creek  (Thomas  Lincoln  had  removed  from  the 
farm  on  Nolin  Creek  to  one  some  fifteen  miles 
northeast,  on  Knob  Creek,  when  Abraham  was 
four  years  old).  "  This  removal  was  partly  on 
account  of  slavery,  but  chiefly  on  account  of  the 
difficulty  in  land  titles  in  Kentucky,"  says  his 
son.  It  was  due,  as  well,  no  doubt,  to  the  fasci- 
which  an  unknown  country  has  always  for  the  adven- 
and  to  that  restless  pioneer  spirit  which  drives  even 


SARAH    BUSH    LINCOLN. 

From  a  photograph  in  the  possession  of  her  granddaughter,  Mrs.  Harriet  Chapman  of  Charleston, 
Illinois.  Sarah  Bush  was  born  in  Kentucky,  December  13,  1788.  She  was  a  friend  of  Thomas  Lincoln 
and  Nancy  Hanks,  and  it  is  said  that  Thomas  Lincoln  had  been  her  suitor  before  she  married  Daniel 
Johnston.  Her  husband  died  in  October,  1818.  In  November,  1819,  Thomas  Lincoln  went  to  Kentucky 
to  seek  her  a  second  time  in  marriage.  An  incident  of  the  courtship  is  told  by  Mr.  J.  L.  Nail,  a  cousin 
of  President  Lincoln  :  "  Uncle  Thomas  came  back  to  Kentucky  after  the  death  of  his  first  wife,  Nancy 
Hanks,  and  proposed  marriage  to  the  widow  Johnston  ;  she  told  him  that  she  would  be  perfectly  willing 
to  marry  him,  as  she  had  known  him  a  long  time,  and  felt  that  the  marriage  would  be  congenial  and 
happy  ;  but  it  would  be  impossible  for  her  even  to  think  of  marrying,  and  leaving  the  State,  as  she  was 
considerably  in  debt.  Uncle  Thomas  told  her  that  need  make  no  difference,  as  he  had  plenty  of  money, 
and  would  take  care  of  her  financial  affairs  ;  and  when  he  had  ascertained  the  amount  of  her  indebtedness 
and  the  names  of  the  parties  to  whom  the  money  was  due,  he  went  around  and  redeemed  all  her  paper 
and  presented  it  to  her,  and  told  her,  when  she  showed  so  much  honor  dbout  debts,  he  was  more  fully 
satisfied  than  ever  that  she  would  make  him  a  good  wife.  She  said,  as  he  had  displayed  so  much 
generosity  in  her  behalf,  she  was  willing  then  to  marry  and  go  with  him  to  Spencer  County,  Indiana."1 
Sarah  Bush  Lincoln  changed  the  character  of  the  Lincoln  home  completely  when  she  entered  it,  and  there 
is  no  question  of  the  importance  of  her  influence  upon  the  development  of  her  step-son  Abraham.  She 
was  a  woman  of  great  natural  dignity  and  kindliness,  and  highly  esteemed  by  all  who  knew  her.  She  died 
on  the  10th  of  December,  1869,  at  the  old  homestead  in  Coles  County,  Illinois. 


HEWING  A  WAY  THROUGH  THE  FORESTS  OF  INDIANA.     53 


^^^    ^TzJzfc^    $%^'&****^  **rfU^ 


THE    MARRIAGE     BOND   GIVEN    BY    THOMAS   LINCOLN    AT    HIS    MARRIAGE    WITH    SARAH    JOHNSTON. — NOW 

FIRST  PUBLISHED. 

From  a  tracing  made  by  Henry  Whitney  Cleveland. 

men  of  sober  judgment  continually  towards  the  frontier,  in 
search  of  a  place  where  the  conflict  with  nature  is  less  severe — 
some  spot  farther  on,  to  which  a  friend  or  a  neighbor  has  pre-, 
ceded,  and  from  which  he  sends  back  glowing  reports.  It  may 
be  that  Thomas  Lincoln  was  tempted  into  Indiana  by  the 
reports  of  his  brother  Josiah,  who  had  settled  on  the  Big  Blue 
River  in  that  State.  At  all  events,  in  the  fall  of  1816  he  started 
with  wife  and  children  and  household  stores  to  journey  by  horse 
back  and  by  wagon  from  Knob  Creek  to  a  farm  selected  on  a 
previous  trip  he  had  made.  This  farm,  located  near  Little 
Pigeon  Creek,  about  fifteen  miles  north  of  the  Ohio  River,  and 
a  mile  and  a  half  east  of  Gentry  ville,  Spencer  County,  was  in  a 
forest  so  dense  that  the  road  for  the  travellers  had  to  be  hewed 
out  as  they  went. 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 


BUCKTHORN    VALLEY,    WHERE    LINCOLN    WORKED    AND    HUNTED. 

After  a  photograph  made  for  this  biography.  In  this  valley  are  located  nearly  all  the  farms  on  which 
Lincoln  worked  in  his  boyhood,  including  the  famous  Crawford  place,  where  he  and  his  sister  Sarah  were 
both  employed  as  "  help."  Visitors  to  the  locality  have  pointed  out  to  them  numberless  items  associated 
with  his  early  life— fields  he  helped  to  clear  and  till,  fences  he  built,  houses  he  repaired,  wells  he  dug,  paths 
he  walked,  playgrounds  he  frequented.  Indeed,  the  inhabitants  of  Buckthorn  Valley  take  the  greatest 
pride  in  Lincoln's  connection  with  it. 

To  a  boy  of  seven  years,  free  from  all  responsibility,  and  too 
vigorous  to  feel  its  hardships,  such  a  journey  must  have  been, 
as  William  Cooper  Howells,  the  father  of  the  novelist,  says  of 
his  own  trip  from  Virginia  to  Ohio,  in  1813,  "a  panorama  of 
delightful  novelty."  Life  suddenly  ceased  its  routine,  and 
every  day  brought  forth  new  scenes  and  adventures.  Little 
Abraham  saw  forests  greater  than  he  had  ever  dreamed  of, 
peopled  by  strange  birds  and  beasts,  and  he  crossed  a  river  so 
wide  that  it  must  have  seemed  to  him  like  the  sea.  To  Thomas 
and  Nancy  Lincoln  the  journey  was  probably  a  hard  and  sad  one  ; 
but  to  the  children  beside  them  it  was  a  wonderful  voyage  into 
the  unknown. 

A   NEW   HOME   IN    INDIANA. 

On  arriving  at  the  new  farm  an  axe  was  put  into  the  boy's 
hands,  and  he  was  set  to  work  to  aid  in  clearing  a  field  for  corn, 


DESCRIPTION  OF  LINCOLN'S  HOME  IN  INDIANA.         55 


THE    OLD    SWIMMING-HOLE. 


A  secluded  part  of  Little  Pigeon  Creek,  not  far  from  Gentryville,  where  Lincoln, 
Dennis  Hanks,  John  Johnston,  the  Gentry  boys,  and  others  of  the  neighborhood  used  to 
bathe.  It  is  still  pointed  out  as  "  the  place  where  Abe  went  in  swimming." 

and  to  help  build  the  "  half- face  camp  "  which  for  a  year  was 
the  home  of  the  Lincolns.  There  were  few  more  primitive  homes 
in  the  wilderness  of  Indiana  in  1816  than  this  of  young  Lincoln's, 
and  there  were  few  families,  even  in  that  day,  who  were  forced 
to  practise  more  makeshifts  to  get  a  living.  The  cabin  which 
took  the  place  of  the  "  half  -face  camp"  had  but  one  room, 
with  a  loft  above.  For  a  long  time  there  was  no  window,  door, 
or  floor  ;  not  even  the  traditional  deer-skin  hung  before  the  exit ; 
there  was  no  oiled  paper  over  the  opening  for  light ;  there  was 
no  puncheon  covering  on  the  ground. 

The  furniture  was  of  their  own  manufacture.     The  table  and 


BRICK-MOULD  USED   BY   THOMAS   LINCOLN. 

From  a  photograph  loaned  by  Jesse  W.  Weik. 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 


WELL   DUG   BY    LINCOLN. 

In  a  field  near  the  Crawford  house  is  a  well  which  is  pointed  out  to  sight-seers 
as  one  which  Lincoln  helped  to  dig.  Many  things  about  the  Crawford  place— fences, 
corn-cribs,  house,  barn— were  built  in  part  by  Lincoln. 

chairs  were  of  the  rudest  sort — rough  slabs  of  wood  in  which 
holes  were  bored  and  legs  fitted  in.  Their  bedstead,  or,  rather, 
bed-frame,  was  made  of  poles  held  up  by  two  outer  posts,  and  the 
ends  made  firm  by  inserting  the  poles  in  auger-holes  that  had 
been  bored  in  a  log  which  was  a  part  of  the  wall  of  the  cabin  ; 
skins  were  its  chief  covering.  Little  Abraham's  bed  was  even 
more  primitive.  He  slept  on  a  heap  of  dry  leaves  in  the  corner  of 
the  loft,  to  which  he  mounted  by 
means  of  pegs  driven  into  the  wall. 

Their  food,  if  coarse,  was  usually 
abundant;  the  chief  difficulty  in 
supplying  the  larder  was  to  secure 
any  variety.  Of  game  there  was 
plenty — deer,  bear,  pheasants,  wild 
turkeys,  ducks,  birds  of  all  kinds. 
There  were  fish  in  the  streams,  and 
wild  fruits  of  many  kinds  in  the 
woods  in  the  summer,  and  these 
were  dried  for  winter  use  ;  but  the 
difficulty  of  raising  and  milling 
corn  and  wheat  was  very  great.  In 
deed,  in  many  places  in  the  West 
the  first  flour  cake  was  an  historical 


HICKORY-BARK   OX-MUZZLE. 

After  a  drawing  made  from  the  original,  in 
the  collection  of  pioneer  articles  in  the  United 
States  National  Museum,  at  Washington,  D.  C. 
Hickory  bark  was  used  freely  by  the  Western 
pioneers.  From  it  and  from  com  husks  they 
were  obliged,  in  fact,  to  make  most  of  their 
harness. 


DOMESTIC  ECONOMY  OF  LINCOLN'S  INDIANA   HOME.      57 


THE   CRAWFORD   HOUSE,    WHERE   LINCOLN   WAS   A   FARM-HAND. 

The  house  of  Josiah  Crawford,  near  Gentryville,  Indiana.  Here  Lincoln  worked  by  the  day  for  sev 
eral  months,  while  his  sister  was  a  "hired  girl "  for  Mrs.  Crawford.  In  1829  Lincoln  cut  down  timber 
and  whip-sawed  it  into  planks  for  a  new  house  which  his  father  proposed  to  build  ;  but  Thomas  Lincoln 
decided  to  go  to  Illinois  before  the  new  house  was  begun,  and  Abraham  sold  his  planks  to  Mr.  Craw 
ford,  who  worked  them  into  the  southeast  room  of  his  house,  where  relic-seekers  have  since  cut  them  to 
pieces  to  make  canes.  This  picture  is  made  after  a  photograph  taken  before  the  death  of  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Crawford,  both  of  whom  are  shown  here. 

event.*  Corn  dodger  was  the  every-day  bread  of  the  Lincoln 
household,  the  wheat  cake  being  a  dainty  reserved  for  Sunday 
mornings. 

Potatoes  were  the  only  vegetables  raised  in  any  quantity,  and 
there  were  times  in  the  Lincoln  family  when  they  were  the  only 
food  on  the  table ;  a  fact  proved  to  posterity  by  the  oft-quoted 
remark  of  Abraham  to  his  father  after  the  latter  had  asked  a 

*  The  first  flour  cake  made  in  Louisville,  Kentucky,  was  made  in  1779.  The  records 
of  the  city  thus  describe  the  event  :  "It  is  related  that,  when  the  first  patch  of  wheat 
was  raised  about  this  place,  after  being  ground  in  a  rude  and  laborious  hand-mill,  it 
was  sifted  through  a  gauze  neckerchief,  belonging  to  the  mother  of  the  gallant  man 
who  gave  us  the  information,  as  the  best  bolting-cloth  to  be  had.  It  was  then  short 
ened,  as  the  housewife  phrased  it,  with  raccoon  fat,  and  the  whole  station  invited  to 
partake  of  a  sumptuous  feast  upon  a  flour  cake." — History  of  the  Ohio  Falls  Counties, 
page  174. 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 


blessing  o  v  e  r  a 
dish  of  roasted 
potatoes  —  that 
they  were  "migh 
ty  poor  bless 
ings."  Not  only 
were  they  all  the 
Lincolns  had  for 
dinner  some 
times;  one  of 
their  neighbors 
tells  of  calling 
there  when  raw 
potatoes,  pared 
and  washed,  were 
passed  around 
instead  of  apples 
or  other  fruit. 

The  food  was 
prepared  in  the 
rudest  way,  for 
the  supply  of 
both  groceries 
and  cooking  uten 
sils  was  limited. 
The  former  were 
frequently  want 
ing  entirely,  and 
as  for  the  latter, 
the  most  import 
ant  item  was  the 
Dutch  oven.  An 
indispensable  ar 
ticle  in  the  primi 
tive  kitchen  out 
fit  was  the  "grit- 
ter."  It  was  made 
by  flattening  out 
an  old  piece  of 
tin,  punching  it 
full  of  holes,  and 


^  H        \  eS&t*dP.  Lf^^^  &*^0S^; 

*  !£  v  ,X         ^C^b-  ,      /h.  . 


By  permission,  from  Herndon  and  Weik's  -Llie  of  Abr»ham  Lincoln  ' 
Copyrl-ht  1898,  by  D.  Appleton  &  Co. 


LINCOLN   PAM 

Written  by  Abraham  Lincoln 
From  original  in  jtossession  of 


THE  APPAREL  OF  THE  LINCOLN  FAMILY. 


59 


ILY   RECORD. 

in  his  Father's  Bible. 

C.  F.  Gunther,  Esq.,  Chicago. 


nailing  it  to  a 
board.  Upon  this 
all  sorts  of  things 
were  grated,  even 
ears  of  corn,  in 
which  slow  way 
enough  meal  was 
sometimes  secured 
for  bread.  Old  tin 
was  used  for  many 
other  little  contriv 
ances  besides  the 
"gritter,"  and 
every  scrap  was 
carefully  saved. 
Most  of  the  dishes 
were  of  pewter  ;  the 
spoons,  iron  ;  the 
knives  and  forks, 
horn-handled. 

The  Lincolns  of 
course  made  their 
own  soap  and  can 
dles,  and  if  they 
had  cotton  or  wool 
to  wear  they  had 
literally  to  grow  it. 
One  of  the  "old 
settlers"  of  Illinois 
says  of  her  experi 
ence  in  clothing  her 
family : 

' '  As  for  our  clothes, 
we  had  to  raise,  pick, 
spin,  and  weave  cotton 
for  winter  and  sum 
mer.  We  also  made 
linsey  of  wool  and  flax. 
The  first  indigo  we  had 
we  raised.  Besides  that 
we  used  sumac  berries, 
white  -  walnut  bark, 


60 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 


and  other  barks  for 
coloring. 

"  Now  for  cotton 
picking.  We  chil 
dren  had  to  lie  before 
the  fire  and  pick  the 
seed  from  the  cotton 
bolls  before  we- could 
go  to  bed.  The  warm 
er  the  cotton  the  bet 
ter  it  picked  ;  so  we 
would  take  a  good 
sweat.  The  next  day 
that  had  to  be  carded 
and  spun  ;  so  some 
would  soap  the  cot 
ton,  some  card,  and 
some  spin ;  and  when 
we  would  get  enough 
spun  and  colored  to 
make  a  dress  apiece 
we  would  put  it  in. 
the  loom  and  weave 
it.  It  did  not  take 
fifteen  or  twenty 
yards  to  make  a  dress 
then ;  six  or  eight 
yards  of  linsey  were 
enough  for  any  wo 
man." 

It  is  probable 
that  young  Abra 
ham  Lincoln  wore 
little  cotton  or  lin 
sey-woolsey.  His 
trousers  were  of 
roughly  tanned 
deer-skin,  his  foot-covering  a  home-made  moccasin,  his  cap  a  coon- 
skin  ;  it  was  only  the  material  for  his  shirt  or  blouse  which  was 
woven  at  home.  If  this  costume  had  some  obvious  disadvan 
tages,  it  was  not  to  be  despised.  So  good  an  authority  as  Gov 
ernor  Reynolds  says  of  one  of  its  articles — the  linsey-woolsey 
shirt — "  It  was  an  excellent  garment.  I  have  never  felt  so  happy 
and  healthy  since  I  put  it  off." 

These   "  pretty  pinching  times,"  as  Abraham   Lincoln   once 


DENNIS    HANKS. 

From  a  photograph  in  the  Libby  Prison  Museum  of  Chicago,  by  per 
mission  of  Mr.  C.  F.  Gunther.  Dennis  Hanks,  a  cousin  of  Nancy  Hanks 
Lincoln,  was  born  in  Kentucky,  in  1799,  and  was  brought  up  by  his  uncle 
Thomas  Sparrow.  The  year  after  Thomas  Lincoln  moved  to  Indiana, 
Thomas  Sparrow  followed  him,  but  both  he  and  his  wife  died  there  in  1818. 
Dennis  then  became  an  inmate  of  the  Lincoln  household.  He  afterwards 
married  one  of  the  daughters  of  Sally  Bush  Lincoln.  It  was  largely  through 
his  influence  that  the  Lincolns  moved  into  Illinois  in  1830.  Dennis  Hanks 
has  been  one  of  the  most  prolific  contributors  to  the  early  period  of  Mr. 
Lincoln's  life,  his  letters  to  Mr.  Herndon  being  full  of  curious  and 
valuable  matter.  He  died  in  October,  1892.  One  of  his  daughters, 
Mre.  Harriet  Chapman,  is  still  living  at  Charleston,  Illinois. 


DEATH  OF  LINCOLN'S  MOTHER. 


MOUTH  OF  ANDERSON  CREEK,  WHERE  LINCOLN  KEPT  THE  FERRY-BOAT. 

From  a  photograph  taken  for  this  biography.  This  ferry,  at  the  mouth  of  Anderson  Creek,  was  first 
established  and  owned  by  James  McDaniel,  and  was  afterwards  kept  by  his  son-in-law  James  Taylor. 
It  was  the  latter  who  hired  Abraham  Lincoln,  about  1826,  to  attend  the  ferry-boat.  As  the  boat  did 
not  keep  him  busy  all  the  time,  he  acted  as  man-of-all-work  around  the  farm.  A  son  of  James  Taylor, 
Captain  Green  B.  Taylor  of  South  Dakota,  is  still  alive,  and  remembers  distinctly  the  months  Lincoln 
spent  in  his  father's  employ.  Captain  Taylor  says  that  Lincoln  "slept  up-stairs"  with  him,  and  used  to 
read  "till  near  midnight." 

described  the  early  days  in  Indiana,  lasted  until  1819.  The  year 
before,  Nancy  Lincoln  had  died,  and  for  many  months  no  more 
forlorn  place  could  be  conceived  than  this  pioneer  home  bereft  of 
its  guiding  spirit ;  but  finally  Thomas  Lincoln  went  back  to 
Kentucky  and  returned  with  a  new  wife — Sally  Bush  Johnston, 
a  widow  with  three  children,  John,  Sarah,  and  Matilda.  The 
new  mother  came  well  provided  with  household  furniture, 
bringing  many  things  unfamiliar  to  little  Abraham — "  one  fine 
bureau,  one  table,  one  set  of  chairs,  one  large  clothes- chest, 
cooking  utensils,  knives,  forks,  bedding,  and  other  articles." 
She  was  a  woman  of  energy,  thrift,  and  gentleness,  and  at  once 
made  the  cabin  home-like,  and  taught  the  children  habits  of 
cleanliness  and  comfort. 


62 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 


JOSIAH   CRAWFOBD. 

Among  those  whom  Lincoln  served  in  Indiana  as  "  hired 
boy  "  was  Josiah  Crawford,  a  well-to-do  farmer  living  near 
Gentryville.  Mr.  Crawford  owned  a  copy  of  Weems's  "  Life 
of  Washington,11  a  precious  book  in  those  days,  and  Lincoln 
borrowed  it  to  read.  "  Late  in  the  night,  before  going  to  rest, 
he  placed  the  borrowed  book  in  his  only  bookcase,  the  open 
ing  between  two  logs  of  the  walls  of  the  cabin,  and  retired  to 
dream  of  its  contents.  During  the  night  it  rained  ;  the  water 
dripping  over  the '  mud-daubing '  on  to  the  book  stained  the 
leaves  and  warped  the  binding.  Abe  valued  the  book  in  pro 
portion  to  the  interest  he  had  in  the  hero,  and  felt  that  the 
owner  must  value  it  beyond  his  ability  to  pay.  It  was  with 
the  greatest  trepidation  he  took  the  book  home  and  told  the 
story,  and  asked  how  he  might  hope  to  make  restitution.  Mr. 
Crawford  answered  :  '  Being  as  it  is  you,  Abe,  I  won't  be  hard 
on  you.  Come  over  and  shuck  corn  three  days,  and  the  book 
is  yours.1  Shuck  corn  three  days  and  receive  a  hero's  life  ! 
He  felt  that  the  owner  was  giving  him  a  magnificent  present. 
After  reading  the  book  he  used  to  tell  the  Crawfords  :  '  I  do 
not  always  intend  to  delve,  grub,  shuck  corn,  split  rails,  and  the 
like.'  His  whole  mind  was  devoted  to  books,  and  he  declared 
he  '  was  going  to  fit  himself  for  a  profession.'  These  declara 
tions  were  often  made  to  Mrs.  Crawford,  who  took  almost  a 
mother's  interest  in  him,  and  she  would  ask  :  l  What  do  you 
want  to  be  now  ? '  His  answer  was  invariably  :  "  I'll  be  Presi 
dent.'  As  he  was  generally  playing  a  joke  on  some  one,  she 
would  answer  :  '  You'd  make  a  purty  President  with  all  your 
tricks  and  jokes.  Now,  wouldn't  you  ? '  He  would  then  declare : 
1  Oh,  I'll  study  and  get  ready,  and  then  the  chance  will  come.'  "* 

*  Unpublished  MS.  by  A.  Hoosier. 


ABRAHAM    BECOMES     A 
LABORER. 

Abraham  was  ten 
years  old  when  his  new 
mother  came  from  Ken 
tucky,  and  he  was  al 
ready  an  important 
member  of  the  family. 
He  was  remarkably 
strong  for  his  years,  and 
the  work  he  could  do  in 
a  day  was  a  decided  ad 
vantage  to  Thomas  Lin 
coln.  The  axe  which  had 
been  put  into  his  hand  to 
help  in  making  the  first 
clearing,  he  had  never 
been  allowed  to  drop ; 
indeed,  as  he  says  him 
self,  "  from  that  till  with 
in  his  twenty-third  year 
he  was  almost  constantly 
handling  that  most  use- 
f  u  1  instrument. ' '  Be 
sides,  he  drove  the  team, 
cut  the  elm  and  linn 
brush  with  which  the 
stock  was  often  fed, 
learned  to  handle  the  old 
shovel-plough,  to  wield 
the  sickle,  to  thresh  the 
wheat  with  a  flail,  to  fan 
and  clean  it  with  a  sheet, 
to  go  to  mill  and  turn  the 
hard-earned  grist  into 
flour.  In  short,  he 
learned  all  the  trades  the 
settler' s  boy  must  know, 
and  so  well  that  when  his 
father  did  not  need  him 


LINCOLN'S  STRENGTH  AND  SKILL  AS  A   LABORER. 


63 


A  MISSISSIPPI  "BROAD-HORN. 

From  a  model  in  the  exhibit  of  the  United  States  National  Museum  at  the  Atlanta  Exposition  of  1895. 
The  flatboat  which  Abraham  Lincoln  piloted  to  New  Orleans  was  not,  probably,  as  well  built  a  boat  as  the 
above  model  represents;  but  it  was  built  on  the  same  general  plan.  The  hold  was  enclosed  to  protect  the 
produce,  and  on  the  deck  was  a  cabin  in  which  the  boatmen  lived.  In  going  down  the  river,  rough  sails 
were  sometimes  rigged  up  on  these  broad-horns,  though  they  floated  usually,  directed  by  huge  paddles. 
If  the  boat  was  brought  back,  it  was  warped  and  poled  by  hand  up  the  river.  More  often,  however,  the 
boatmen  sold  both  boat  and  cargo  at  New  Orleans,  and  came  back  by  the  steamers  as  deck  passengers. 
Boats  like  the  two  models  on  this  page  are  still  seen  in  great  numbers  on  the  Ohio  and  Mississippi  Rivers. 

he  could  hire  him  to  the  neighbors.  Thomas  Lincoln  also  taught 
him  the  rudiments  of  carpentry  and  cabinet-making,  and  kept 
him  busy  much  of  the  time  as  his  assistant  in  his  trade.  There 
are  houses  still  standing,  in  and  near  Gentryville,  on  which  it  is 
said  he  worked.  The  families  of  Lamar,  Jones,  Crawford,  Gentry, 
Turnham,  and  Richardson,  all  claim  the  honor  of  having  em 
ployed  him  upon  their  cabins. 

As  he  grew  older  he  became  one  of  the  strongest  and  most 
popular  "hands"  in  the  vicinity,  and  much  of  his  time  was 
spent  as  a  "  hired  boy  "  on  some  neighbor's  farm.  For  twenty- 
five  cents  a  day — paid  to  his  father — he  was  hostler,  ploughman, 
wood-chopper,  and  carpenter,  besides  helping  the  women  with 
the  "  chores."  For  them  he  was  ready  to  carry  water,  make  the 
fire,  even  tend  the  baby.  No  wonder  that  a  laborer  who  never 
refused  to  do  anything  asked  of  him,  who  could  "  strike  with  a 
mail  heavier  blows  "  and  "sink  an  axe  deeper  into  the  wood" 
than  anybody  else  in  the  community,  and  who  at  the  same  time 

/V  ,.-..--  ;;:,:„„,:.,,:-. 


A  RIVER  PRODUCE  BOAT. 

From  a  model  in  the  exhibit  of  the  United  States  National  Museum  at  the  Atlanta  Exposition  of  1895. 
The  photograph  of  this  model,  and  of  the  one  above,  we  owe  to  the  courtesy  of  the  director  of  the  Museum, 
Mr.  G.  Brown  Goode. 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 


was  general  help  for  the  women, 
never  lacked  a  job  in  Gentry  ville. 
Of  all  the  tasks  his  rude  life 
brought  him,  none  seems  to  have 
suited  him  better  than  going  to 
the  mill.  It  was,  perhaps,  as 
much  the  leisure  enforced  by  this 
trip  as  anything  else  that  at 
tracted  him.  The  machinery  was 
primitive,  and  each  man  waited 
his  turn,  which  sometimes  was 
long  in  coming.  A  story  is  told 
by  one  of  the  pioneers  of  Illinois 
of  going  many  miles  with  a  grist, 
and  waiting  so  long  for  his  turn 
that,  when  it  came,  he  and  his 
horse  had  eaten  all  the  corn,  and 
he  had  none  to  grind.  This  wait 
ing  with  other  men  and  boys  on 
like  errands  gave  an  opportunity 
for  talk,  story-telling,  and  games, 
which  were  Lincoln's  delight. 
In  1826  he  spent  several  months  as  a  ferryman  at  the  mouth 
of  Anderson  Creek,  where  it  joins  the  Ohio.  This  experience  sug 
gested  new  possibilities  to  him.  It  was  a  custom  among  the 
farmers  of  Ohio,  Indiana,  and  Illinois  at  this  date  to  collect  a 
quantity  of  produce,  and  float  down  to  New  Orleans  on  a  raft, 
to  sell  it.  Young  Lincoln  saw  this,  and  wanted  to  try  his  for 
tune  as  a  produce  merchant.  An  incident  of  his  projected  trip 
he  related  once  to  Mr.  Seward  : 

*'  Seward,"  he  said,  "  did  you  ever  hear  how  I  earned  my  first  dollar  ? " 

"  No,  "said  Mr.  Seward. 

"Well,"  replied  he,  "I  was  about  eighteen  years  of  age,  and  belonged,  as 
you  know,  to  what  they  call  down  South  the  '  scrubs; '  people  who  do  not  own 
land  and  slaves  are  nobody  there ;  but  we  had  succeeded  in  raising,  chiefly  by 
ray  labor,  sufficient  produce,  as  I  thought,  to  justify  me  in  taking  it  down  the 
river  to  sell.  After  much  persuasion  I  had  got  the  consent  of  my  mother  to 
go,  and  had  constructed  a  flatboat  large  enough  to  take  the  few  barrels  of  things 
we  had  gathered  to  New  Orleans.  A  steamer  was  going  down  the  river.  We 
have,  you  know,  no  wharves  on  the  Western  streams,  and  the  custom  was,  if 
passengers  were  at  any  of  the  landings,  they  were  to  go  out  in  a  boat,  the 
steamer  stopping,  and  taking  them  on  board.  I  was  contemplating  my  new 


.lo-i. m    GENTRY. 

One  of  the  few  companions  of  Lincoln's  youth  in 
Indiana,  now  living,  is  Joseph  Gentry.  He  resides 
on  a  farm  one-fourth  mile  west  from  the  Lincoln 
farm,  where  he  has  lived  about  sixty  years. 
When  a  boy  he  lived  in  Gentryville— a  town 
founded  by  the  Gentrys.  He  was  present  at  the 
funeral  of  Nancy  Hanks  Lincoln,  and  remembers 
hearing  the  minister  say  it  was  through  the 
efforts  of  the  little  eon  of  the  dead  woman  that 
his  services  had  been  secured. 


Carbon  enlargement,  made  by  Sherman  &  McHugh  ot New  York  City. 

LINCOLN   IN   1858. 

From  a  photograph  loaned  by  W.  J.  Franklin  of  Macomb,  Illinois,  and  taken  in  1866  from  an 
ambrotypemadeinl858in  Macomb.  This  portrait  figures  in  the  collection  in  the  Lincoln  Home  at 
Springfield,  Illinois,  and  on  the  back  of  the  photograph  is  the  following  inscription  :  "  This  likeness 
of  Abraham  Lincoln  is  a  faithful  copy  of  an  original  ambrotype,  now  in  possession  of  James  K. 
Magie.  It  was  taken  August  25,  1858,  by,  Mr.  T.  P.  Pierson,  at  Macomb,  in  this  State,  and  is  believed 
to  be  of  anterior  date  to  any  other  likeness  of  Mr.  Lincoln  ever  brought  before  the  public.  Mr.  Magie 
happened  to  remain  over  night  at  Macomb,  at  the  same  hotel  with  Mr.  Lincoln,  and  the  next  morning 
took  a  walk  about  town,  and  upon  Mr.  Magic's  invitation  they  stepped  into  Mr.  Pierson's  establish 
ment,  and  the  ambrotype  of  which  this  is  a  copy  was  the  result.  Mr.  Lincoln,  upon  entering,  looked 
at  the  camera  as  though  he  was  unfamiliar  with  such  an  instrument,  and  then  remarked  :  '  Well,  do 
you  want  to  take  a  shot  at  me  with  that  thing  ?  '  He  was  shown  to  a  glass,  where  he  was  told  to 
'  fix  up,'  but  declined,  saying  it  would  not  be  much  of  a  likeness  if  he  fixed  up  any.  The  old  neighbors 
and  acquaintances  of  Mr.  Lincoln  in  Illinois,  upon  seeing  this  picture,  are  apt  to  exclaim  :  '  There  ! 
that's  the  best  likeness  of  Mr.  Lincoln  that  I  ever  saw  ! '  The  dress  he  wore  in  this  picture  is  the  same 
in  which  he  made  his  famous  canvass  with  Senator  Douglas."  This  inscription  was  written  by  J.  C. 
Power,  now  dead,  but  for  many  years  custodian  of  the  Lincoln  monument  in  Springfield. 


LINCOLN  EARNS  A  DOLLAR. 


67 


boat,  and  wondering 
whether  I  could  make  it 
stronger  or  improve  it  in 
any  part,  when  two  men 
with  trunks  came  down 
to  the  shore  in  carriages, 
and  looking  at  the  different 
boats,  singled  out  mine, 
and  asked,  'Who  owns 
this  ? '  I  answered  modest 
ly,  'I  do.'  'Will  you, 'said 
one  of  them,  '  take  us  and 
our  trunks  out  to  the  steam 
er?'  'Certainly,'  said  I. 
I  was  very  glad  to  have  the 
chance  of  earning  some 
thing,  and  supposed  that 
each  of  them  would  give 
me  a  couple  of  bits.  The 
trunks  were  put  in  my 
boat,  the  passengers  seated 
themselves  on  them,  and  I 
sculled  them  out  to  the 
steamer.  They  got  on 
board,  and  I  lifted  the 
trunks  and  put  them  on  the 
<leck.  The  steamer  was 
about  to  put  on  steam 
-again,  when  I  called  out, 
'  You  have  forgotten  to  pay 
me.'  Each  of  them  took 
from  his  pocket  a  silver 
half-dollar  and  threw  it 
on  the  bottom  of  my  boat. 
I  could  scarcely  believe 
my  eyes  as  I  picked  up  the 
money.  You  may  think 


SAMUEL   CRAWFORD. 

Only  living  son  of  Josiah  Crawford,  who  lent  Lincoln  the 
Weems's  "  Life  of  Washington."  To  our  representative  in  Indi 
ana,  who  secured  this  picture  of  Mr.  Crawford,  he  said,  when  asked 
if  he  remembered  the  Lincolns  :  "Oh,  yes;  I  remember  them, 
although  I  was  not  Abraham's  age.  He  was  twelve  years  older  than 
I.  One  day  I  ran  in,  calling  out,  '  Mother  !  mother  !  Aaron  Grigs- 
by  is  sparking  Sally  Lincoln;  I  saw  him  kiss  her  ! '  Mother  scolded 
me,  and  told  me  I  must  stop  watching  Sally,  or  I  wouldn't  get  to  the 
wedding.  [It  will  be  remembered  that  Sally  Lincoln  was  '  help  ' 
in  the  Crawford  family,  and  that  she  afterwards  married  Aaron 
Grigsby.]  Neighbors  thought  lots  more  of  each  other  then  than 
now,  and  it  seems  like  everybody  liked  the  Lincolns.  We  were  well 
acquainted,  for  Mr.  Thomas  Lincoln  was  a  good  carpenter,  and 
made  the  cupboard,  mantels,  doors,  and  sashes  in  our  old  home  that 
was  burned  down." 


it  was  a  very  little  thing, 

and  in  these  days  it  seems  to  me  like  a  trifle,  but  it  was  a  most  important  inci 
dent  in  my  life.  I  could  scarcely  credit  that  I,  the  poor  boy,  had  earned  a  dol 
lar  in  less  than  a  day;  that  by  honest  work  I  had  earned  a  dollar.  I  was  a 
more  hopeful  and  thoughtful  boy  from  that  time." 

Soon  after  this,  while  he  was  working  for  Mr.  Gentry,  the 
leading  citizen  of  Gentry ville,  his  employer  decided  to  send  a 
load  of  produce  to  New  Orleans,  and  chose  young  Lincoln  to  go 
as  "  bow-hand,"  uto  work  the  front  oars."  For  this  trip  he 
received  eight  dollars  a  month  and  his  passage  back. 


•I 


ABKAUAM    LINCOLN. — NOW    FIRST   PUBLISHED. 

After  a  photograph  in  the  collection  of  Mr.  J.  C.  Browne  of  Philadelphi 


MISSISSIPPI  RIVER  FLATBOAT. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

EARLY  EDUCATION.— BOOKS  ABRAHAM  READ.— THE  JONES    GROCERY 
STORE.— LIFE  ON  THE  RIVER. 


ITH  all  his  hard  living  and  hard  work,  Lin 
coln  was  getting,  in  this  period,  a  desultory 
kind  of  education.  Not  that  he  received 
much  schooling.  He  went  to  school  "  by 
littles,"  he  says  ;  "  in  all  it  did  not  amount 
to  more  than  a  year."  And,  if  we  accept 
his  own  description  of  the  teachers,  it  was, 
perhaps,  just  as  well  that  it  was  only  "by 
littles."  "  No  qualification  was  ever  re 
quired  of  a  teacher  beyond  '  readin' ,  writin' ,  and  cipherin'  to  the 
rule  of  three.'  If  a  straggler  supposed  to  understand  Latin 
happened  to  sojourn  in  the  neighborhood,  he  was  looked  upon 
as  a  wizard."  But  more  or  less  of  the  schoolroom  is  a  matter 
of  small  importance  if  a  boy  has  learned  to  read,  and  to  think 
of  what  he  reads.  And  that,  this  boy  had  learned.  His  stock  of 
books  was  small,  but  he  knew  them  thoroughly,  and  they  were 
good  books  to  know:  the  Bible,  "JEsop's  Fables,"  "Kobinson 


70  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 

Crusoe,"  Bunyan's  ''Pilgrim's  Progress,"  a  " History  of  the 
United  States,"  Weems's  "Life  of  Washington,"  and  the 
"  Statutes  of  Indiana."  These  are  the  chief  ones  we  know 
about.  He  did  not  own  them  all,  but  sometimes  had  to  borrow 
them  from  the  neighbors :  a  practice  which  resulted  in  at  least 
one  casualty,  for  Weems's  "Life  of  Washington"  he  allowed 
to  get  wet,  and  to  make  good  the  loss  he  had  to  pull  fodder 
three  days.  No  matter.  The  book  became  his  then,  and  he 
could  read  it  as  he  would.  Fortunately  he  took  this  curious 
work  in  profound  seriousness,  which  a  wide-awake  boy  would 
hardly  be  expected  to  do  to-day.  Washington  became  an 
exalted  figure  in  his  imagination ;  and  he  always  contended 
later,  when  the  question  of  the  real  character  of  the  first  Presi 
dent  was  brought  up,  that  it  was  wiser  to  regard  him  as  a  god 
like  being,  heroic  in  nature  and  deeds,  as  Weems  did,  than  to 
contend  that  he  was  only  a  man  who,  if  wise  and  good,  still 
made  mistakes  and  indulged  in  follies,  like  other  men. 

In  1861,  addressing  the  Senate  of  the  State  of  New  Jersey,  he 
said : 

"  May  I  be  pardoned  if,  upon  this  occasion,  I  mention  that  away  back  in 
my  childhood,  the  earliest  days  of  my  being  able  to  read,  I  got  hold  of  a  small 
book,  such  a  one  as  few  of  the  younger  members  have  ever  seen — Weems's 
*  Life  of  Washington.'  I  remember  all  the  accounts  there  given  of  the  battle 
fields  and  struggles  for  the  liberties  of  the  country,  and  none  fixed  themselves 
upon  my  imagination  so  deeply  as  the  struggle  here  at  Trenton,  New  Jersey. 
The  crossing  of  the  river,  the  contest  with  the  Hessians,  the  great  hardships 
endured  at  that  time,  all  fixed  themselves  on  my  memory  more  than  any  single 
Revolutionary  event  ;  and  you  all  know,  for  you  have  all  been  boys,  how  these 
early  impressions  last  longer  than  any  others.  I  recollect  thinking  then,  boy 
even  though  I  was,  that  there  must  have  been  something  more  than  common 
that  these  men  struggled  for. " 

Besides  these  books  he  borrowed  many.  He  once  told  a 
friend  that  he  "read  through  every  book  he  had  ever  heard  of 
in  that  country,  fora  circuit  of  fifty  miles."  From  everything 
he  read  he  made  long  extracts,  using  a  turkey-buzzard  pen  and 
brier-root  ink.  When  he  had  no  paper  he  would  write  on  a 
board,  and  thus  preserve  his  selections  until  he  secured  a  copy 
book.  The  wooden  fire-shovel  was  his  usual  slate,  and  on  its 
back  he  ciphered  with  a  charred  stick,  shaving  it  off  when  cov 
ered.  The  logs  and  boards  in  his  vicinity  he  filled  with  his 
figures  and  quotations.  By  night  he  read  and  worked  as 


LINCOLN'S  THIRST  FOR  KNOWLEDGE. 


71 


t,  1894  by  D.  Appleton  &  Co.,  publishers  of  Hern- 
n's  "Life  of  Lincoln,'1  and  reproduced  by  special 


permission. 


JOHN   HANKS. 


long  as  there  was  light,  and  he 
kept  a  book  in  the  crack  of  the 
logs  in  his  loft,  to  have  it  at 
hand  at  peep  of  day.  When 
acting  as  ferryman,  in  his  nine 
teenth  year,  anxious,  no  doubt, 
to  get  through  the  books  of  the 
house  where  he  boarded,  before 
he  left  the  place,  he  read  every 
night  "  till  midnight."  * 

Every  lull  in  his  daily  labor 
he  used  for  reading,  rarely  going 
to  his  work  without  a  book. 
When  ploughing  or  cultivating 
the  rough  fi e  1  d s  of  Spencer 
County,  he  found  frequently  a 
half  hour  for  reading.  At  the 
end  of  every  long  row  the  horse 
was  allowed  to  rest,  and  Lincoln 
had  his  book  out,  and  was 
perched  on  stump  or  fence, 
almost  as  soon  as  the  plough 
had  come  to  a  standstill.  One 
of  the  few  people  still  left  in 
Gentry  ville  who  remembers  Lin 
coln,  Captain  John  Lamar,  tells 

*The  first  authorized  sketch  of  Lin 
coln's  life  was  written  by  the  late  John  L. 
Scripps  of  the  Chicago  "  Tribune,"  who 
went  to  Springfield  at  Mr.  Lincoln's  re 
quest,  and  by  him  was  furnished  the  data 
for  a  campaign  biography.  In  a  letter 
written  to  Mr.  Herndon  after  the  death  of 
Lincoln,  which  Herndon  turned  over  to  me, 
Scripps  relates  that  in  writing  his  book  he 

stated  that  Lincoln  as  a  youth  read  Plutarch's  "Lives."  This  he  did  simply  because, 
as  a  rule,  almost  every  boy  in  the  West  in  the  early  days  did  read  Plutarch.  When 
the  advance  sheets  of  the  book  reached  Mr.  Lincoln,  he  sent  for  the  author  and  said, 
gravely  :  ' '  That  paragraph  wherein  you  state  that  I  read  Plutarch's  '  Lives '  was  not 
true  when  you  wrote  it,  for  up  to  that  moment  in  my  life  I  had  never  seen  that  early 
contribution  to  human  history  ;  but  I  want  your  book,  even  if  it  is  nothing  more  than  a 
campaign  sketch,  to  be  faithful  to  the  facts  ;  and  in  order  that  that  statement  might  be 
literally  true,  I  secured  the  book  a  few  days  ago,  and  have  sent  for  you  to  tell  you  I  have 
just  read  it  through." — JESSE  W.  WEIK. 


The  son  of  Joseph  Hanks,  with  whom  Thomas 
Lincoln  learned  the  carpenter's  trade,  and  a  cousin 
of  Nancy  Hanks  Lincoln.  John  Hanks  lived 
with  Thomas  Lincoln  in  Indiana,  from  about 
1823  to  1827,  then  returned  to  Kentucky,  and  from 
there  emigrated  to  Illinois.  It  was  largely 
through  his  influence  that  Thomas  Lincoln  and 
Dennis  Hanks  went  to  the  Sangarnon  country  in 
1830.  When  Mr.  Lincoln  first  left  home  he  and 
John  Hanks  worked  together.  In  1831  they  made 
a  trip  to  New  Orleans  on  a  flatboat.  It  was  John 
Hanks  who,  in  1860,  accompanied  Governor 
Oglesby  to  the  old  Lincoln  farm  in  Macon 
County,  to  select  the  rails  Lincoln  had  split,  and 
it  was  he  who  carried  them  into  the  convention 
of  the  Republican  party  of  Illinois,  which  nomi 
nated  Lincoln  as  its  candidate.  John  Hanks  was 
an  illiterate  man,  being  able  neither  to  read  nor 
write  ;  but  he  was  honest  and  kindly,  and  his 
reminiscences  of  Mr.  Lincoln's  early  life,  gathered 
by  Mr.  Herndon  and  others,  are  regarded  by  all 
who  knew  him  as  trustworthy.  After  Mr.  Lin 
coln's  election  to  the  Presidency,  he  desired  an 
Indian  agency  ;  but  his  lack  of  even  a  rudimentary 
education  made  it  impossible  to  give  it  to  him. 


72 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 


to  this  day  of  riding  to  mill  with 
his  father,  and  seeing,  as  they 
drove  along,  a  boy  sitting  on  the 
top  rail  of  an  old-fashioned  stake- 
and-rider  worm  fence,  reading  so 
intently  that  he  did  not  notice 
their  approach.  His  father,  turn 
ing  to  him,  said:  "John,  look 
at  that  boy  yonder,  and  mark  my 
words,  he  will  make  a  smart  man 
out  of  himself.  I  may  not  see  it, 
but  you'll  see  if  my  words  don't 
come  true."  "That  boy  was 
Abraham  Lincoln,"  adds  Mr. 
Lamar,  impressively. 

In  his  habits  of  reading  and 
study  the  boy  had  little  encour 
agement  from  his  father,  but  his 
step-mother  did  all  she  could 
for  him.  Indeed,  between  the 
two  there  soon  grew  up  a  rela 
tion  of  touching  gentleness  and 
confidence.  In  one  of  the  inter 
views  a  biographer  of  Mr.  Lin 
coln  sought  with  her  before  her 
death,  Mrs.  Lincoln  said : 

"  I  induced  my  husband  to  permit  Abe  to  read  and  study  at 
home,  as  well  as  at  school.  At  first  he  was  not  easily  reconciled 
to  it,  but  finally  he  too  seemed  willing  to  encourage  him  to  a 
certain  extent.  Abe  was  a  dutiful  son  to  me  always,  and  we  took 
particular  care  when  he  was  reading  not  to  disturb  him — would 
let  him  read  on  and  on  till  he  quit  of  his  own  accord." 

This  consideration  of  his  step-mother  won  the  boy's  confidence, 
and  he  rarely  copied  anything  that  he  did  not  take  it  to  her  to 
read,  asking  her  opinion  of  it ;  and  often,  when  she  did  not 
understand  it,  explaining  the  meaning  in  his  plain  and  simple 
language. 

No  newspaper  ever  escaped  him.  One  man  in  Gfentryville, 
Mr.  Jones,  the  storekeeper,  took  a  Louisville  paper,  and  here 
Lincoln  went  regularly  to  read  and  discuss  its  contents.  All  the 
men  and  boys  of  the  neighborhood  gathered  there,  and  every- 


CopyrlRht.  1894,  by  D  Appleton  *  Co.,  publishers  of  Hern- 
don's  "Life  of  Lincoln."  and  reproduced  by  special 
permission. 

JUDGE  JOHN    PITCHER. 

A  lawyer  of  Rockport,  Indiana,  at  the  time 
the  Lincolns  lived  near  Gentryville.  An  essay  of 
Mr.  Lincoln's,  composed  when  he  was  about  nine 
teen,  was  submitted  to  Mr.  Pitcher,  who  declared 
the  "  world  couldn't  beat  it ;  "  and  he  seems  to 
have  taken  a  kindly  interest  in  the  author  from 
that  time  forward,  lending  him  books  freely  from 
his  law  office.  Mr.  Pitcher  was  still  living  in  1889, 
in  Mt.  Vernon,  Indiana,  having  reached  the  age 
of  ninety-three  years.  His  reminiscences  of  the 
boyhood  of  Lincoln  are  embodied  in  Herndon's 
"  Life." 


SLAVERY  IN  INDIANA. 


73 


CORN-HUSK   COLLAR. 


Washington,  D.  c.  These  collars 


thing  which  the  paper  related  was  sub 
jected  to  their  keen,  shrewd  common- 
sense.  It  was  not  long  before  young 
Lincoln  became  the  favorite  member  of 
the  group,  the  one  listened  to  most  re 
spectfully.  Politics  were  warmly  dis 
cussed  by  these  Gentryville  citizens,  and 
it  may  be  that  sitting  on  the  counter  of 
Jones'  s  grocery  Lincoln  even  argued  on 
slavery.  It  certainly  was  one  of  the  live 
questions  in  Indiana  at  that  date. 

For  several  years  after  the  organiza 
tion  of  the  Territory,  and  in  spite  of  the 
Ordinance  of  1787,  a  system  of  thinly 
disguised  slavery  had  existed  ;  and  it 

took  a  sharp  strassle  to  brin?  tlle  state 

in  without  some  form  of  the  institution. 
So  uncertain  was  the  result  that,  when 
decided,  the  word  passed  from  mouth  to 

mouth  all  over  Hoosierdom,  "  She  has  come  in  free,  she  has  come 

in  free  !  "     Even  in  1820,  four  years  after  the  admission  to  State 

hood,  the  census  showed  one  hundred 

and  ninety  slaves,  nearly  all  of  them  in 

the  southwest  corner,  where  the  Lin- 

coins  lived,  and  it  was  not,  in  reality, 

until    1821    that    the    State    Supreme 

Court  put  an  end  to  the  question.     In 

Illinois  in  1822-1824  there  was  carried 

on  one  of   the  most  violent   contests 

between  the  friends  and  opponents  of 

slavery  which  occurred  before  the  re 

peal  of  the  Missouri  Compromise.     The 

effort  to  secure  slave  labor  was  nearly 

successful.     In  the  campaign,  pamph 

lets  pro  and  con  literally  inundated 

the  State  ;  the  pulpits  took  it  up  ;  and 

"  almost  every  stump  in  every  county 

had  its  bellowing,  indignant  orator." 

?  PUNCHED  SHEET-IRON  LANTERN. 

So  violent  a  commotion  so  near  their      Drawn  from  tne  Qrigluali  in  the 

borders     COUld      hardly    have     failed    tO       United    States    National    Museum,    at 
,     ^  .,,  Washington,   D.   0.    Oiled  paper  was 

reach  Gentryville.  sometimes  used  in  the  lanterns. 


74 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 


There  had  been  other  anti-slavery  agitation  going  on  within 
hearing  for  several  years.  In  1804  a  number  of  Baptist  ministers 
of  Kentucky  started  a  crusade  against  the  institution,  which  re 
sulted  in  a  hot  contest  in  the  denomination,  and  the  organization  of 
the  "  Baptist  Licking-Locust  Association  Friends  of  Humanity." 
The  Rev.  Jesse  Head,  the  minister  who  married  Thomas  Lincoln 
and  Nancy  Hanks,  talked  freely  and  boldly  against  slavery ;  and 
one  of  their  old  friends,  Christopher  Columbus  Graham,  the  man 
who  was  present  at  their  wedding,  says  :  "  Tom  and  Nancy  Lin 
coln  and  Sally  Bush  were  just  steeped  full  of  Jesse  Head's 
notions  about  the  wrong  of  slavery  and  the  rights  of  man  as 
explained  by  Thomas  Jefferson  and  Thomas  Paine."  In  1806 
Charles  Osborn  began  to  preach  " immediate  emancipation"  in 
Tennessee.  Ten  years  later  he  started  a  paper  in  Ohio,  devoted 
to  the  same  idea,  and  in  1819  he  transferred  his  crusade  to  Indi 
ana.  In  1821  Benjamin  Lundy  started,  in  Tennessee,  the  famous 
"Genius,"  devoted  to  the  same  doctrine  ;  and  in  1822,  at  Shelby- 

ville,  only  about  one  hundred 
miles  from  Gentry  ville,  was 
started  a  paper  similar  in  its 
views,  the  "  Abolition  Intelli 
gencer." 

At  that  time  there  were  in 
Kentucky  five  or  six  abolition 
societies,  and  in  Illinois  was  an 
organization  called  the  "  Friends 
of  Humanity. ' '  Probably  young 
Lincoln  heard  but  vaguely  of 
these  movements ;  but  of  some 
of  them  he  must  have  heard,  and 
he  must  have  connected  them 
with  the  "  Speech  of  Mr.  Pitt  on 
the  Slave  Trade  ; "  with  Merry's 
elegy,  "The  Slaves;"  and  with 
the  discussion  given  in  his 
''Kentucky  Preceptor," 
"Which  has  the  Most  to  com 
plain  of,  the  Indian  or  the 
Negro?"  all  of  which  tradition 
declares  he  was  fond  of  repeat 
ing.  It  is  not  impossible  that, 


JOHN   W.  LAMAK. 


Mr.  Lamar  was  a  young  boy  in  Spencer  County 
when  Lincoln  left  Indiana,  but  was  old  enough 
to  have  seen  much  of  him  and  to  have  known  his 
characteristics  and  his  reputation  in  the  county. 
He  is  still  living  near  his  old  home. 


LINCOLN  DEVELOPS  INTO  AN  ORATOE. 


75 


KEV.  ALLEN   BROONER. 

An  Indiana  acquaintance  of  Lincoln,  still  living 
near  Gentryville.  "  Mr.  Brooner's  mother  was  a 
friend  of  Nancy  Hanks  Lincoln.  In  the  fall  of 
1818  Mrs.  Brooner  was  very  sick,  and  Mrs.  Lincoln 
called  to  see  her.  The  sick  woman  was  very  de 
spondent,  and  said  :  '  Mrs.  Lincoln,  I  am  going  to 
die.  You  will  not  see  me  again  while  living.' 
'Tut  te  tut.  You  must  not  say  that.  Why,  you 
will  live  longer  than  I.  So  cheer  up,'  answered 
Mrs.  Lincoln.  Then,  after  a  few  parting  words, 
Mrs.  Lincoln  went  home.  The  next  day  she  was 
very  ill  and  in  a  few  days  she  died.  A  few  days 
later  Mrs.  Brooner  died.  When  the  tombstone 
was  placed  at  Mrs.  Lincoln's  grave,  no  one  could 
state  positively  which  was  Mrs.  Brooner's  and 
which  Mrs.  Lincoln's  grave.  Mr.  Allen  Brooner 
gave  his  opinion,  and  the  stone  was  placed  ;  but  the 
iron  fence  encloses  both  graves,  which  lie  in  a  half- 
acre  tract  of  land  owned  by  the  United  States  Gov 
ernment.  Mr.  Allen  Brooner,  after  his  mother's 
death,  became  a  minister  of  the  United  Brethren 
Church,  and  moved  to  Illinois.  Like  all  of  the  old 
settlers  of  Gentryville,  he  remembers  the  departure 
of  the  Lincolns  for  Illinois.  'When  the  Lin- 
coins  were  getting  ready  to  leave,'  says  Mr. 
Brooner,  'Abraham  and  his  step-brother,  John 
Johnston,  came  over  to  our  house  to  swap  a  horse 
for  a  yoke  of  oxen.  John  did  all  the  talking.  If 
any  one  had  been  asked  that  day  which  would 
make  the  greatest  success  in  life,  I  think  the 
answer  would  have  been  John  Johnston.'  "  * 

*  From  an  unpublished  MS.   by  A. 
Hoosier. 


as  Frederick  Douglas  first  real 
ized  his  own  condition  in  read 
ing  a  school-speaker,  the  "  Co 
lumbian  Orator,"  so  Abraham 
Lincoln  first  felt  the  wrong  of 
slavery  in  reading  his  "  Ameri 
can  Preceptor." 

Lincoln  was  not  only  win 
ning  in  these  days  in  the  Jones 
grocery  store  a  reputation  as  a 
talker  and  story-teller ;  he  was 
becoming  known  as  a  kind  of 
backwoods  orator.  He  could 
repeat  with  effect  all  the  poems 
and  speeches  in  his  various 
school-readers,  he  could  imitate 
to  perfection  the  wandering 
preachers  who  came  to  Gentry 
ville,  and  he  could  make  a 
political  speech  so  stirring  that 
he  drew  a  crowd  about  him 
every  time  he  mounted  a  stump. 
The  applause  he  won  was  sweet ; 
and  frequently  he  indulged  his 
gifts  when  he  ought  to  have  been 
at  work — so  thought  his  employ 
ers  and  Thomas  his  father.  It 
was  trying,  no  doubt,  to  the 
hard-pushed  farmers,  to  see  the 
men  who  ought  to  have  been 
cutting  grass  or  chopping  wood 
throw  down  their  sickles  or  axes 
and  group  around  a  boy,  when 
ever  he  mounted,  a  stump  to  de 
velop  a  pet  theory  or  repeat 
with  variations  yesterday's  ser 
mon.  In  his  fondness  for  speech- 
making  he  attended  all  the  trials 
of  the  neighborhood,  and  fre 
quently  walked  fifteen  miles  to 
Boonville  to  attend  court. 


76  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 


W  b 


LINES  FROM  LINCOLN'S  COPY-BOOK. 

These  lines  were  written  on  a  leaf  of  a  copy-book  in  which  Lincoln  wrote  out  the  tables  of  weights  and 
measures,  and  the  sums  in  connection  with  them.  His  step-mother,  Sarah  Bush  Lincoln,  gave  the  leaf, 
with  a  few  others  from  the  book,  to  Mr.  Herndon.  It  is  now  owned  by  Jesse  W.  Weik. 

He  wrote  as  well  as  spoke,  and  some  of  his  productions  were 
even  printed,  through  the  influence  of  his  admiring  neighbors. 
Thus  a  local  Baptist  preacher  was  so  struck  with  one  of  Abra 
ham's  essays  on  temperance  that  he  sent  it  to  Ohio,  where  it 
appeared  in  some  paper.  Another  article,  on  "National  Poli 
tics,"  so  pleased  a  lawyer  of  the  vicinity  that  he  declared  the 
"  world  couldn't  beat  it." 

INFLUENCE   OF   THE   RIVER   LIFE. 

In  considering  the  different  opportunities  for  development 
wrhich  the  boy  had  at  this  time,  his  months  spent  on  the  Ohio  as 
a  ferryman  and  his  trips  down  the  Mississippi  should  not  be  for 
gotten.  In  fact,  all  that  Abraham  Lincoln  saw  of  men  and  the 
world  outside  of  Gentryville  and  its  neighborhood,  until  after  he 
was  twenty-one  years  of  age,  he  saw  on  these  rivers.  For  many 
years  the  Ohio  and  the  Mississippi  were  the  Appian  Way,  the 
one  route  to  the  world  for  the  Western  settlers.  To  preserve  it 
they  had  been  willing  in  early  times  to  go  to  war  with  Spain  or 
with  France,  to  secede  from  the  Union,  even  to  join  Spain  or 
France  against  the  United  States  if  either  country  would  insure 
their  right  to  their  highway.  In  the  long  years  in  which  the  own 
ership  of  the  great  river  was  unsettled,  every  man  of  them  had 
come  to  feel  with  Benjamin  Franklin,  "  a  neighbor  might  as  well 
ask  me  to  sell  my  street-door."  In  fact,  this  water-way  was  their 
"  street-door,"  and  all  that  many  of  them  ever  saw  of  the  world 
passed  here.  Up  and  down  the  rivers  was  a  continual  movement. 
Odd  craft  of  every  kind  possible  on  a  river  went  by:  "arks" 


§ 


o 
o 


o 


IS 


FRAGMENT  PROM   A  LEAF   OF   LINCOLN'S   EXERCISE-BOOK. 


i/MuM 


& 


?i  i'flw- 


m 


m 


^g| 


^pi^^B 
SEE   APPENDIX. 


°l  7^ 


7T7Tf 
7  / 


: 


._ 

j  tii  0 

r-  >t 


4 -2  7- 2- 


a  o  o  o 


ui$i 


± 


LINCOLN'S  EXPERIENCE  AS  A   BOATMAN. 


79 


and  "sleds,"  with  tidy 
cabins  where  families 
lived,  and  where  one 
could  see  the  washing 
stretched,  the  children 
playing,  the  mother  on 
pleasant  days  rocking 
and  sewing ;  keel-boats, 
which  dodged  in  and  out 
and  turned  inquisitive 
noses  up  all  the  creeks 
and  bayous  ;  great  fleets 
from  the  Alleghanies, 
made  up  of  a  score  or 
more  of  timber  rafts,  and 
manned  by  forty  or  fifty 
rough  boatmen;  "  Or 
leans  boats,"  loaded  with 
flour,  hogs,  produce  of  all 
kinds ;  pirogues,  made 
from  great  trees;  "broad- 
horns;"  curious  nonde 
scripts  worked  by  a 
wheel;  and,  after  1812, 
steamboats. 

All  this    traffic  was 

leisurely.  Men  had  time  to  tie  up  and  tell  the  news  and  show 
their  wares.  Even  the  steamboats  loitered  as  it  pleased  them. 
They  knew  no  schedule.  They  stopped  anywhere  to  let  passen 
gers  off.  They  tied  up  wherever  it  was  convenient,  to  wait  for 
fresh  wood  to  be  cut  and  loaded,  or  for  repairs  to  be  made. 
Waiting  for  repairs  seems,  in  fact,  to  have  absorbed  a  great  deal 
of  the  time  of  these  early  steamers.  They  were  continually  run 
ning  on  to  "sawyers,"  or  "planters,"  or  "  wooden  islands,"  and 
they  blew  up  with  a  regularity  which  was  monotonous.  Even  as 
late  as  1842,  when  Charles  Dickens  made  the  trip  down  the  Mis 
sissippi,  he  was  often  gravely  recommended  to  keep  as  far  aft  as 
possible,  "because  the  steamboats  generally  blew  up  forward." 

It  was  this  varied  river  life  with  which  Abraham  Lincoln 
came  into  contact  as  a  ferryman  and  boatman.  Who  can  believe 
that  he  could  see  it  and  be  part  of  it  without  learning  much  of 


WILLIAM   JONES. 

The  store  in  Gentryville  in  which  Lincoln  first  made  his 
reputation  as  a  debater  and  story-teller  was  owned  by  Mr. 
Jones.  The  year  before  the  Lincolns  moved  to  Illinois 
Abraham  clerked  in  the  store,  and  it  is  said  that  when  he 
left  Indiana  Mr.  Jones  sold  him  a  pack  of  goods  which  he 
peddled  on  his  journey.  Mr.  Jones  was  the  representative 
from  Spencer  County  in  the  State  legislature  from  1838  to 
1841.  He  is  no  longer  living.  His  son,  Captain  William 
Jones,  is  still  in  Gentryville. 


80  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 

the  life  and  the  world  beyond  him  ?  Every  time  a  steamboat 
or  raft  tied  up  near  Anderson  Creek  and  he  with  his  companions 
boarded  it  and  saw  its  mysteries  and  talked  with  its  crew,  every 
time  he  rowed  out  with  passengers  to  a  passing  steamer,  who  can 
doubt  that  he  came  away  with  new  ideas  and  fresh  energy  ?  The 
trips  to  New  Orleans  were,  to  a  thoughtful  boy,  an  education  of 
no  mean  value.  It  was  the  most  cosmopolitan  and  brilliant  city 
of  the  United  States  at  that  date,  and  there  young  Lincoln  saw 
life  at  its  intensest. 


CHAPTER  V. 

LINCOLN'S  REPUTATION  IN  INDIANA.— REMINISCENCES   OF  HIS 

ASSOCIATES. 


N  spite  of  the  crudeness  of  these  early  opportuni 
ties  for  learning ;  in  spite  of  the  fact  that  he  had 
no  wise  direction,  that  he  was  brought  up  by  a 
father  with  no  settled  purpose,  and  that  he  lived 
in  a  pioneer  community,  where  a  young  man's 
life  at  best  is  but  a  series  of  makeshifts,  Lincoln 
soon  developed  a  determination  to  make  some 
thing  out  of  himself,  and  a  desire  to  know, 
which  led  him  to  neglect  no  opportunity  to  learn. 
The  only  unbroken  outside  influence  which  directed  and  stim 
ulated  him  in  his  ambitions  was  that  coming  first  from  his 
mother,  then  from  his  step-mother.  These  two  women,  both  of 
them  of  unusual  earnestness  and  sweetness  of  spirit,  were  one 
or  the  other  of  them  at  his  side  throughout  his  youth  and  young 
manhood.  The  ideal  they  held  before  him  was  the  simple  ideal 
of  the  early  American,  that  if  a  boy  is  upright  and  industrious 
he  may  aspire  to  any  place  within  the  gift  of  the  country.  The 
boy's  nature  told  him  they  were  right.  Everything  he  read  con 
firmed  their  teachings,  and  he  cultivated,  in  every  way  open  to 
him,  his  passion  to  know  and  to  be  something. 

There  are  many  proofs  that  Lincoln's  characteristics  were  rec 
ognized  at  this  period  by  his  associates  ;  that  his  determination 
to  excel,  if  not  appreciated,  yet  made  its  imprint.  In  1865,  thirty- 
five  years  after  he  left  Gentryville,  a  biographer,  anxious  to  save 
all  that  was  known  of  Lincoln  in  Indiana,  went  among  his  old 
associates,  and  with  a  sincerity  and  thoroughness  worthy  of 


LINCOLN    IN    1858. 

From  a  photograph  in  the  possession  of  Mr.  Stuart  Brown  of  Springfield,  Illinois.  The  original  of  this  photograph 
was  bought  in  1860,  in  a  Springfield  gallery,  by  Mr.  D.  McWilliams  of  Dwight,  Illinois.  Mr.  McWilliams  sent  the 
picture  to  Mr.  Milton  Hay  Jopingfield,  an  intimate  friend  of  Mr.  Lincoln's,  and  from  him  received  the  following  letter :  "  I 
am  greatly  pleased  with  this  picture  of  Lincoln.  I  think  it  reproduces  the  man  as  he  was,  in  the  sober  expression  most 
habitual  with  him,  better  than  any  other  photograph  I  have  seen  of  him  ;  and  this  is  the  opinion  of  all  the  old  familiar 
acquaintances  of  his  to  whom  I  have  shown  it.'1 


LINCOLN'S  EARLY  FAME  AS  A  WRITER. 


83 


respect,  interviewed  them.  At 
that  time  there  were  still  living 
numbers  of  the  people  with  whom 
Lincoln  had  been  brought  up. 
They  all  remembered  something 
of  him.  It  is  curious  to  note  that 
all  of  these  people  tell  of  his  doing 
something  different  from  what 
other  boys  did,  something  suffi 
ciently  superior  to  have  made  a 
keen  impression  upon  them.  In 
almost  every  case  each  person  had 
his  own  special  reason  for  admir 
ing  Lincoln.  A  facility  in  making 
rhymes  and  writing  essays  was  the 
admiration  of  many,  who  con 
sidered  it  the  more  remarkable 
because  "essays  and  poetry  were 
not  taught  in  school,"  and  "Abe 
took  it  up  on  his  own  account." 

Many  others  were  struck  by  the 
clever  use  he  made  of  his  gift  for 
writing.  The  wit  he  showed  in 
taking  revenge  for  a  social  slight 
by  a  satire  on  the  Gfrigsbys,  who  had  failed  to  invite  him  to  a 
wedding,  made  a  lasting  impression  in  Gentryville.  That  he 
should  write  so  well  as  to  be  able  to  humiliate  his  enemies  more 
deeply  than  if  he  had  resorted  to  the  method  of  taking  revenge 
current  in  the  country,  and  thrashed  them,  seemed  to  his  friends 
a  mark  of  surprising  superiority. 

Others  remembered  his  quick-wittedness  in  helping  his 
friends. 

"  We  are  indebted  to  Kate  Roby,"  says  Mr.  Herndon,  "for 
an  incident  which  illustrates  alike  his  proficiency  in  orthography 
and  his  natural  inclination  to  help  another  out  of  the  mire.  The 
word  '  defied '  had  been  given  out  by  Schoolmaster  Crawford,  but 
had  been  misspelled  several  times  when  it  came  Miss  Roby's 
turn.  '  Abe  stood  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  room,'  related  Miss 
Roby  to  me  in  1865,  '  and  was  watching  me.  I  began  d-e-f — ,  and 
then  I  stopped,  hesitating  whether  to  proceed  with  an  i  or  a  y. 
Looking  up,  I  beheld  Abe,  a  grin  covering  his  face,  and  pointing 


GREEN   B.    TAYLOR,  A  BOYHOOD   FRIEND  OF 
LINCOLN. 

Son  of  James  Taylor,  for  whom  Lin 
coln  ran  the  ferry-boat  at  the  mouth  of 
Anderson  Creek.  Mr.  Taylor,  now  in  his 
eighty-second  year,  lives  in  South  Dakota. 
He  remembers  Mr.  Lincoln  perfectly,  and 
says  that  his  father  hired  Abraham  Lincoln 
for  one  year,  at  six  dollars  a  month,  and  that 
he  was  "well  pleased  with  the  boy." 


84 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 


with  his  index  finger  to  his  eye.      I  took  the  hint,  spelled  the 
word  with  an  i,  and  it  went  through  all  right.' ' 

This  same  Miss  Rob y  it  was  who  said  of  Lincoln,  ' '  He  was 
better  read  then  than  the  world  knows  or  is  likely  to  know 
exactly.  .  .  .  He  often  and  often  commented  or  talked  to 
me  about  what  he  had  read — seemed  to  read  it  out  of  the  book 
as  he  went  along — did  so  to  others.  He  was  the  learned  boy 
among  us  unlearned  folks.  He  took  great  pains  to  explain ; 
could  do  it  so  simply.  He  was  diffident  then,  too." 

One  man  was  impressed  by  the  character  of  the  sentences  he 
had  given  him  fora  copy.  "It  was  considered  at  that  time," 
said  he,  "that  Abe 
was  the  best  penman 
in  the  neighborhood. 
One  day,  while  he 
was  on  a  visit  at  my 
mother's,  I  asked  him 
to  write  some  copies 
for  me.  He  very  will 
ingly  consented.  He 
wrote  several  of  them, 
but  one  of  them  I  have 
never  forgotten,  al 
though  a  boy  at  that 
time.  It  was  this : 

"  '  Good  boys  who  to  their 

books  apply 
Will  all  be  great  men 
by  and  by.'" 

All  of  his  comrades 
remembered  his  stories 
and  his  clearness  in 
argument.  "When 
he  appeared  in  com- 
pany ,'  '  says  Nat 
Grigsby,  "the  boys  would  gather  and  cluster  around  him  to  hear 
him  talk.  Mr.  Lincoln  was  figurative  in  his  speech,  talks,  and 
conversation.  He  argued  much  from  analogy,  and  explained 
things  hard  for  us  to  understand  by  stories,  maxims,  tales,  and 
figures.  He  would  almost  always  point  his  lesson  or  idea  by 


CABINET    MADE    BY    ABRAHAM    LINCOLN. 

This  cabinet  is  now  in  the  possession  of  Captain  J.  W.  Wart- 
man  of  Evansville,  Indiana.  It  is  of  walnut,  two  feet  in  height, 
and  very  well  put  together.  Thomas  Lincoln  is  said  to  have  aided 
hie  son  in  making  it. 


LINCOLN'S  RETORT  TO  A   BOASTING  JOCKEY. 


85 


PIGEON    CREEK   CHURCH,   WHICH   THE   LINCOLNS   ATTENDED   IN   INDIANA. 

From  a  photograph  loaned  by  W.  W.  Admire  of  Chicago.  This  little  log  church,  or  "meetin1  house," 
is  where  the  Lincolns  attended  services  in  Indiana.  The  pulpit  is  said  to  have  been  made  by  Thomas 
Lincoln.  The  building  was  razed  about  fifteen  years  ago,  after  having  been  used  for  several  years  as  a 
tobacco  barn. 

some  story  that  was  plain  and  near  us,  that  we  might  instantly 
see  the  force  and  bearing  of  what  he  said." 

There  are  many  proofs  that  he  was  an  authority  on  all  sub 
jects,  even  the  country  jockeys  bringing  him  their  stories  and 
seeking  to  inspire  his  enthusiasm.  Captain  John  Lamar  of 
Gentryville,  who  was  a  very  small  boy  in  the  neighborhood 
when  Lincoln  was  a  young  man,  is  still  fond  of  describing  a 
scene  he  witnessed  once,  which  shows  with  what  care  even  the 
"heroes  "  of  the  country  tried  to  impress  young  Lincoln.  "  Uncle 
Jimmy  Larkins,  as  everybody  called  him,"  says  Mr.  Lamar, 
i  £  was  a  great  hero  in  my  childish  eyes.  Why,  I  cannot  now 
say,  without  it  was  his  manners.  There  had  been  a  big  fox- 
chase,  and  Uncle  Jimmy  was  telling  about  it.  Of  course  he 
was  the  hero.  I  was  only  a  little  shaver,  and  I  stood  in  front 
of  Uncle  Jimmy,  looking  up  into  his  eyes ;  but  he  never  noticed 
me.  He  looked  at  Abraham  Lincoln,  and  said:  'Abe,  I've  got 
the  best  horse  in  the  world  ;  he  won  the  race  and  never  drew 
a  long  breath.'  But  Abe  paid  no  attention  to  Uncle  Jimmy, 


86 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 


:. 


THE  FIRST  LINCOLN   MONUMENT. 

From  a  photograph  made  for  this  work.  When  Abraham  Lincoln  left  Indiana,  in  1830,  his  friend 
James  Gentry  planted,  in  remembrance  of  him,  near  the  Lincoln  cabin,  a  cedar  tree.  It  still  stands,  sturdy 
and  strong,  though  it  is  stripped  of  twigs  as  high  as  one  can  reach.  Those  who  point  out  the  tree  explain 
the  bareness  by  saying  :  "The  folks  who  come  lookin'  around  have  taken  twigs  until  you  can't  reach  any 
more  very  handy." 

and  I  got  mad  at  the  big,  overgrown  fellow,  and  wanted  him 
to  listen  to  my  hero's  story.  Uncle  Jimmy  was  determined 
that  Abe  should  hear,  and  repeated  the  story.  'I  say,  Abe, 
I  have  the  best  horse  in  the  world;  after  all  that  running 
he  never  drew  a  long  breath.'  Then  Abe,  looking  down  at  my 
little  dancing  hero,  said:  'Well,  Larkins,  why  don't  you  tell 
us  how  many  short  breaths  he  drew  ? '  This  raised  a  laugh  on 
Uncle  Jimmy,  and  he,  got  mad,  and  declared  he'd  fight  Abe  if  he 
wasn't  so  big.  He  jumped  around  until  Abe  quietly  said: 
'Now,  Larkins,  if  you  don't  shut  up  I'll  throw  you  in  that 
water.'  I  was  very  uneasy  and  angry  at  the  way  my  hero  was 
treated,  but  I  lived  to  change  my  views  about  heroes." 


LINCOLN'S  AFFECTION  FOR  HIS  STEPMOTHER. 


87 


There  is  one  other  testimony  to  his  character  as  a  boy  which 
should  not  be  omitted.  It  is  that  of  his  stepmother : 

"Abe  was  a  good  boy,  and  I  can  say  what  scarcely  one 
woman — a  mother — can  say  in  a  thousand :  Abe  never  gave  me  a 
cross  word  or  look,  and  never  refused,  in  fact  or  appearance,  to 
do  anything  I  requested  him.  I  never  gave  him  a  cross  word  in 
all  my  life.  .  .  .  His  mind  and  mine — what  little  I  had — 
seemed  to  run  together.  He  was  here  after  he  was  elected  Presi 
dent.  He  was  a  dutiful  son  to  me  always.  I  think  he  loved  me 
truly.  I  had  a  son,  John,  who  was  raised  with  Abe.  Both  were 
good  boys  ;  but  I  must  say,  both  now  being  dead,  that  Abe  was 
the  best  boy  I  ever  saw,  or  expect  to  see." 


OLD  POST  FORD  ACROSS  THE  WABASH  RIVER,  WHERE  THE  LINCOLNS  CROSSED  FROM  INDIANA  TO  ILLINOIS. 

From  a  photograph  made  for  this  work.  The  route  by  which  the  Lincolns  went  into  Illinois  from 
Indiana  has  always  been  a  question  in  dispute.  Some  of  the  acquaintances  of  the  family  still  living  in 
Indiana  claim  that  they  followed  the  line  marked  on  our  map  (page  45).  Others  say  that  they  went  from 
Gentryville  to  the  Old  Post  Ford  across  the  Wabash.  The  route  on  the  map  was  drawn  on  the  supposi 
tion  that  they  would  have  taken  the  road  by  which,  they  would  have  avoided  the  greatest  number  of  water 
courses.  Information  has  come  to  us  since  the  map  was  made  which  shows  that  they  went  by  Vincenues. 
Mr.  Jesse  W.  Weik  says  that  Dennis  Hanks,  who  was  in  the  party,  told  him  in  1886  that  they  went  through 
Vincennes.  Colonel  Chapman  of  Charleston,  the  grandson  of  Sarah  Bush  Lincoln,  told  Mr.  Weik  that 
in  February,  1861,  when  Mr.  Lincoln  visited  his  mother  for  the  last  time,  he  told  him  that  the  settlers 
passed  through  Vincennes,' where  they  remained  a  day.  There,  Lincoln  said,  they  saw  a  printing-press  for 
the  first  time.  At  Palestine,  on  the  Illinois  side  of  the  Wabash,  he  remembered  seeing  a  large  crowd 
around  the  United  States  Land  Office,  and  a  travelling  juggler  performing  sleight-of-hand  tricks.  We  also 
know  that  they  entered  Decatur  from  the  south,  near  the  present  line  of  the  Illinois  Central.  This  Mr. 
Lincoln  told  Mr.  H.  C.  Whitney. 


CHAPTER   VI. 


AMUSEMENTS  OF  LINCOLN'S  LIFE  IN  INDIANA.— HIS  FIRST  SORROWS. 


F  Abraham  Lincoln's  early  struggle  for  both  liveli 
hood  and  education  was  rough  and  hard,  his  life 
was  not  without  amusements.    At  home  the  rude 
household  was  overflowing  with  life.     There  were 
Abraham  and  his  sister,  a  stepbrother  and  two 
stepsisters,  and  a  cousin  of  Nancy  Hanks  Lin 
coln,  Dennis  Hanks,  whom  misfortune  had  made 
an  inmate  of  the  Lincoln  home — quite  enough  to 
plan  sports  and  mischief  and  keep  time  from 
growing  dull.     Thomas  Lincoln  and  Dennis  Hanks  were  both 
famous  story-tellers,  and  the  Lincolns  spent  many  a  cozy  even 
ing  about  their  cabin  fire,  repeating  the  stories  they  knew. 


GKAVE  OF  LINCOLN'S  SISTER. 

From  a  photograph  taken  for  this  work.  Sarah,  or  Nancy,  Lincoln  was  born  in  Elizabethtown, 
Kentucky,  in  1807.  In  1826  she  married  Aaron  Grigsby,  and  a  year  later  died.  She  was  binied  not  far 
from  Gentryville,  in  what  is  now  called  "Old  Pigeon  Cemetery."  Her  grave  is  marked  by  the  rude  stone 
directly  over  the  star.  The  marble  monument  in  the  centre  is  that  of  her  husband. 


LINCOLN  AS  A   SPORTSMAN, 


CORN-HUSK   BROOMS   AND   MOPS. 

Photographed  for  this  work  from  the  origi 
nals,  in  the  United  States  National  Museum  at 
Washington.  Corn-husks  were  used  by  the  pio 
neers  of  the  West  to  make  brooms,  brushes,  mats, 
and  horse-collars. 


Hanks,  who  says  :  "  No  doubt 
about  A.  Lincoln's  killing  the 
turkey.  He  done  it  with  his 
father's  rifle;  made  by  Wil 
liam  Lutes  of  Bullitt  County, 
Kentucky.  I  have  killed  a 
hundred  deer  with  her  my 
self  ;  turkeys  too  numerous 
to  mention." 

But  there  were  many  other 
country  sports  which  he  en- 
ioved  to  the  full.  He  went 

J      «/ 

swimming  in  the  evenings ; 
fished  with  the  other  boys  in 

*  Preserved  in  "  Abraham  Lincoln, 
lay  and  John  Hay.     Volume  I.,  page  639. 


Of  course  the  boys  hunted. 
Not  that  Abraham  ever  became 
a  true  sportsman ;  indeed,  he 
seems  to  have  lacked  the  genu 
ine  sporting  instinct.  In  a  curi 
ous  autobiography,  written 
entirely  in  the  third  person, 
which  Mr.  Lincoln  prepared  at 
the  request  of  a  friend  in  I860,* 
he  says  of  his  exploits  as  a 
hunter  :  "  A  few  days  before  the 
completion  of  his  eighth  year, 
in  the  absence  of  his  father,  a 
flock  of  wild  turkeys  approached 
the  new  log  cabin;  and  Abra 
ham,  with  a  rifle  gun,  standing 
inside,  shot  through  a  crack  and 
killed  one  of  them.  He  has 
never  since  pulled  the  trigger 
on  any  larger  game."  This  ex 
ploit  is  confirmed  by  Dennis 


A   LINCOLN    CHAIR. 

This  chair  was  made  from  rails  split  by  Abraham 
Lincoln  when  he  was  living  in  Spencer  County,  In- 
diana. 

Complete  Works."     Edited  by  John  G.  Nico- 
The  Century  Company. 


90 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 


Pigeon  Creek,  and  caught  chubs  and  suckers  enough  to  delight 
any  boy ;  he  wrestled,  jumped,  and  ran  races  at  the  noon  rests. 
He  was  present  at  every  country  horse-race  and  fox-chase. 
The  sports  he  preferred  were  those  which  brought  men  to 
gether:  the  spelling-school,  the  husking-bee,  the  " raising;"  and 
of  all  these  he  was  the  life  by  his  wit,  his  stories,  his  good 
nature,  his  doggerel  verses,  his  practical  jokes,  and  by  a  rough 
kind  of  politeness — for  even  in  Indiana  in  those  times  there  was 
a  notion  of  politeness,  and  one  of  Lincoln's  schoolmasters  had 
even  given  " lessons  in  manners.-'  Lincoln  seems  to  have 
profited  in  a  degree  by  them  ;  for  Mrs.  Crawford,  at  whose  home 
he  worked  some  time,  declares  that  he  always  "  lifted  his  hat 
and  bowed"  when  he  made  his  appearance. 

There  was,  of  course,  a  rough  gallantry  among  the  young 
people  ;  and  Lincoln's  old  comrades  and  friends  in  Indiana  have 
left  many  tales  of  how  he  "went  to  see  the  girls,"  of  how  he 
brought  in  the  biggest  back-log  and  made  the  brightest  fire  ;  then 
of  how  the  young  people,  sitting  around  it,  watching  the  way  the 

sparks  flew,  told 
their  fortunes. 
He  helped  pare 
apples,  shell  corn, 
and  crack  nuts. 
He  took  the  girls 
to  meeting  and  to 
spelling -school , 
though  he  was  not 
often  allowed  to 
take  part  in  the 
spelling-match, 
for  the  one  who 
"chose  first" 
always  chose 
"Abe  Lincoln," 
and  that  was 
equivalent  to  win 
ning,  as  the  others 
knew  that  "he 
would  stand  up 
the  longest." 
The  nearest 


PIONEER  KITCHEN  UTENSILS. 


Drawn  for  this  work  from  the  original  articles,  in  the  United  States 
National  Museum,  through  the  courtesy  of  the  director,  Mr.  G.  Brown 
Goode.  The  articles  in  the  group  are  a  hominy  mortar  and  pestle,  water 
gourd  and  gourd  dipper,  wooden  pails  and  tub,  and  a  wooden  piggin. 


LINCOLN'S  EARLIEST  ROMANCE. 


91 


THE   HILL  NEAR  GENTRYVILLE  FROM   WHICH   THE   LINCOLNS   TOOK   THEIR  LAST   LOOK  AT   THEIR 

INDIANA  HOME. 

approach  to  sentiment  at  this  time,  of  which  we  know,  is  re 
corded  in  a  story  Lincoln  once  told  to  an  acquaintance  in  Spring 
field.  It  was  a  rainy  day,  and  he  was  sitting  with  his  feet  on  the 
window-sill,  his  eyes  on  the  street,  watching  the  rain.  Suddenly 
he  looked  up  and  said : 

"  Did  you  ever  write  out  a  story  in  your  mind  ?  I  did  when 
I  was  a  little  codger.  One  dayva  wagon  with  a  lady  and  two 
girls  and  a  man  broke  down  near  us,  and  while  they  were  fixing 
up,  they  cooked  in  our  kitchen.  The  woman  had  books  and 
read  us  stories,  and  they  were  the  first  I  ever  had  heard.  I  took 
a  great  fancy  to  one  of  the  girls  ;  and  when  they  were  gone  I 
thought  of  her  a  great  deal,  and  one  day  when  I  was  sitting  out 
in  the  sun  by  the  house  I  wrote  out  a  story  in  my  mind.  I 
thought  I  took  my  father' s  horse  and  followed  the  wagon,  and 
finally  I  found  it,  and  they  were  surprised  to  see  me.  I  talked 
with  the  girl  and  persuaded  her  to  elope  with  me ;  and  that 
night  I  put  her  on  my  horse,  and  we  started  off  across  the  prairie. 
After  several  hours  we  came  to  a  camp  ;  and  when  we  rode  up 
we  found  it  was  the  one  we  had  left  a  few  hours  before,  and  we 


92 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 


LINCOLN'S  FIKST  HOME  IN  ILLINOIS. 

After  a  photograph  owned  by  H.  E.  Barker  of  Springfield,  Illinois.  A  printed  description  accom 
panying  the  photograph  says:  "The  above  is  an  exact  reproduction  of  a  photograph  taken  in  1865  of 
Abraham  Lincoln's  cabin  on  the  banks  of  the  Sangamon  River.  The  cabin  was  located  upon  Section  28, 
Harristown  Township,  Macon  County,  Illinois."  The  genuineness  of  the  picture  is  attested  by  the  Hon. 
Richard  J.  Oglesby,  at  that  time  Governor  of  Illinois. 

went  in.  The  next  night  we  tried  again,  and  the  same  thing 
happened — the  horse  came  back  to  the  same  place  ;  and  then  we 
concluded  that  we  ought  not  to  elope.  I  stayed  until  I  had  per 
suaded  her  father  to  give  her  to  me.  I  always  meant  to  write 
that  story  out  and  publish  it,  and  I  began  once  ;  but  I  concluded 
it  was  not  much  of  a  story.  But  I  think  that  was  the  beginning 
of  love  with  me."* 

EARLY   SORROWS. 

His  life  had  its  tragedies  as  well  as  its  touch  of  romance — 
tragedies  so  real  and  profound  that  they  gave  dignity  to  all  the 
crudeness  and  poverty  which  surrounded  him,  and  quickened 

*  Interview  with  Mr.  T.  W.  S.  Kidd  of  Springfield,  Illinois,  editor  of  "Tire 
Morning  Monitor." 


LINCOLN'S  EARLY  BEREAVEMENTS. 


93 


and. intensified  the  melancholy  tem 
perament  he  had  inherited  from  his 
mother.  Away  back  in  1816,  when 
Thomas  Lincoln  had  started  to  find  a 
farm  in  Indiana,  bidding  his  wife  be 
ready  to  go  into  the  wilderness  on 
his  return,  Nancy  Lincoln  had  taken 
her  boy  and  girl  to  a  tiny  grave,  that 
of  her  youngest  child ;  and  the  three 
had  there  said  good-by  to  a  little  one 
whom  the  children  had  scarcely 


LINCOLN'S  BROAD-AXE. 
This  broad-axe  is  said  to  have  been 
known,    but    for    Whom    the    mother's      owned  originally  by _Abram  Bales  of  New 
,  -.  .-.       ,  Salem :  and,  according  to  tradition,  it  was 

grief  was  so  keen  that  the  boy  never 
forgot  the  scene. 


bought  from  him  by  Lincoln.  After  Lin 
coln  forsook  the  woods,  he  sold  the  axe 
to  one  Mr.  Irvin.  Mr.  L.  W.  Bishop  of 

TWO  years  later  he    Saw  hlS  father      Petersburg  now  has  the  axe,  having  got- 
a   green   pine   box    and    put    his      ten  it  directly  from  Mr.  Irvin     There  are 
"  a  number  of  affidavits  attesting  its  genu- 

mother    intO  it,   and    he  Saw  her      meness.    The  axe  has  evidently  seen  hard 

buried  not  far  from  their  cabin,  "^  and  is  now  covered  with  a  thick 
almost  without  prayer.  Young  as 

he  was,  it  was  his  efforts,  it  is  said,  which  brought  a  parson  from 
Kentucky,  three  months  later,  to  preach  the  sermon  and  conduct 
the  service  which  seemed  to  the  child  a  necessary  honor  to  the 
dead.*  As  sad  as  the  death  of  his  mother  was  that  of  his  only 
sister,  Sarah.  Married  to  Aaron  Grigsby  in  1826,  she  had  died  a 
year  and  a  half  later  in  child-birth,  a  death  which  to  her  brother 
must  have  seemed  a  horror  and  a  mystery. 

Apart  from  these  family  sorrows  there  was  all  the  crime  and 
misery  of  the  community — all  of  which  came  to  his  ears  and 
awakened  his  nature.  He  even  saw  in  those  days  one  of  his 
companions  go  suddenly  mad.  The  young  man  never  recovered 
his  reason,  but  sank  into  idiocy.  All  night  he  would  croon 
plaintive  songs,  and  Lincoln  himself  tells  how,  fascinated  by  this 
mysterious  malady,  he  used  to  rise  before  daylight  to  cross  the 
fields  and  listen  to  this  funeral  dirge  of  the  reason.  In  spite  of 
the  poverty  and  rudeness  of  his  life  the  depth  of  his  nature  was 
unclouded.  He  could  feel  intensely,  and  his  imagination  was 
quick  to  respond  to  the  touch  of  mystery. 

*  It  still  happens  frequently  in  the  mountain  districts  of  Tennessee  that  the 
funeral  services  are  not  held  until  months  after  the  burial.  A  gentleman  who  has 
lived  much  in  the  South  tells  of  a  man  marrying  a  second  wife  at  a  decent  interval 
after  the  death  of  his  first,  but  still  before  the  funeral  of  the  first  had  taken  place. 


CHAPTER   VII. 

THE     LINCOLNS    LEAVE    INDIANA.— THE     JOURNEY     TO     ILLINOIS.— 
ABRAHAM  LINCOLN  STARTS  OUT   FOR  HIMSELF. 

|N  the  spring  of  1830,  when  Abraham  was  twenty- 
one  years  old,  his  father,  Thomas  Lincoln,  de 
cided  to  leave  Indiana.  The  reason  Dennis 
Hanks  gives  for  this  removal  was  a  disease 
called  the  "  milk-sick."  Abraham  Lincoln's 
mother,  Nancy  Hanks  Lincoln,  and  several  of 
their  relatives  who  had  followed  them  from 
Kentucky  had  died  of  it.  The  cattle  had  been 
carried  off  by  it.  Neither  brute  nor  human  life 
seemed  to  be  safe.  As  Dennis  Hanks  says  :  "  This  was  reason 
enough  (ain't  it?)  for  leaving."  Any  one  who  has  travelled 
through  the  portions  of  Spencer  County  in  which  the  Lincolns 
settled  will  respect  Thomas  Lincoln  for  his  energy  in  moving. 
When  covered  with  timber,  as  the  land  was  when  he  chose  his 
farm,  it  no  doubt  promised  well;  but  fourteen  years  of  hard 
labor  showed  him  that  the  soil  was  niggardly  and  the  future 
of  the  country  unpromising.  To-day,  sixty -five  years  since  the 
Lincolns  left  Spencer  County,  the  country  remains  as  it  was  then, 
dull,  commonplace,  unfruitful.  The  towns  show  no  signs  of 
energy  or  prosperity.  There  are  no  leading  streets  or  build 
ings  ;  no  man' s  house  is  better  than  his  neighbor' s,  and  every 
man's  house  is  ordinary.  For  a  long  distance  on  each  side  of 
Gentryville,  as  one  passes  by  rail,  no  superior  farm  is  to  be  seen, 
no  prosperous  mine  or  manufactory.  It  is  a  dead,  monotonous 
country,  where  no  possibilities  of  quick  wealth  have  been  dis 
covered,  and  which  only  centuries  of  tilling  and  fertilizing  can 
make  prosperous.  Thomas  Lincoln  did  well  to  leave  Indiana. 

The  place  chosen  for  their  new  home  was  the  Sangamon 
country  in  central  Illinois.  It  was  at  that  day  a  country  of  great 
renown  in  the  West,  the  name  meaning  "  The  land  where  there 
is  plenty  to  eat."  One  of  the  family — John  Hanks,  a  cousin  of 
Dennis — was  already  there,  and  the  inviting  reports  he  had  sent 
to  Indiana  were  no  doubt  what  led  the  Lincolns  to  decide  on 
Illinois  as  their  future  home. 

Gentryville  saw  young  Lincoln  depart  with  real  regret,  and 


PARTING   FROM  OLD   FRIENDS  IN  INDIANA. 


95 


his  friends  gave  him  a  score  of 
rude  proofs  that  he  would  not 
be  forgotten.  Even  to-day  there 
is  not  a  family  living  in  and 
around  Gentry  ville,  who  remem 
bers  the  Lincolns  at  all,  who 
has  not  some  legend  to  repeat 
of  their  departure.  They  tell 
how  in  those  days  "  neighbors 
were  like  relatives,"  and  every 
body  offered  some  kindly  ser 
vice  to  the  movers  as  a  parting 
sign  of  good-will.  The  entire 
Lincoln  family  was  invited  to 
spend  the  last  night  before 
starting,  with  Mr.  Gentry.  He 
was  so  loath  to  part  with  Lin 
coln  that  he  "  accompanied  the 
movers  along  the  road  a  spell." 
After  they  were  gone,  one  of 
his  sons,  James  Gentry,  planted 
a  cedar  tree  in  memory  of  Abra 
ham,  which  now  marks  the  site 
of  the  Lincoln  home. 

The  spot  on  the  hill  over 
looking  Buckthorn  valley, 
where  the  Lincolns  said  good-by 
to  their  old  home  and  to  the 

home  of  Sarah  Lincoln  Grigsby,  to  the  grave  of  the  mother  and 
wife,  to  all  their  neighbors  and  friends,  is  still  pointed  out. 
Buckthorn  valley  held  many  recollections  dear  to  them  all,  but 
to  no  one  of  the  company  was  the  place  dearer  than  to  Abraham. 
It  is  certain  that  he  felt  the  parting  keenly,  and  he  certainly 
never  forgot  his  years  in  the  Hoosier  State.  One  of  the  most 
touching  experiences  he  relates  in  all  his  published  letters  is 
his  emotion  at  visiting  his  old  Indiana  home  fourteen  years  after 
he  had  left  it.  So  strongly  was  he  moved  by  the  scenes  of  his 
first  conscious  sorrows,  efforts,  joys,  ambitions,  that  he  put  into 
verse  the  feelings  they  awakened.* 

*  Letter  to Johnston,  April  18,  1846.    "  Abraham  Lincoln.    Complete  Works." 

Edited  by  John  G.  Nicolay  and  John  Hay.     Volume  I.,  pages  86,  87.     The  Century  Co. 


JOHN  B.   ROLL,   WHO    HELPED     LINCOLN  BUILD 
THE  FLATBOAT. 

Born  in  Green  Village,  New  Jersey,  June  4, 
1814.  He  went  to  Illinois  in  1830,  the  year  in 
which  Mr.  Lincoln  went,  settling  in  Sangamon 
town,  where  he  had  relatives.  It  was  here  he 
met  Lincoln,  and  made  the  "pins"  for  the  flat- 
boat.  Later  Mr.  Roll  went  to  Springfield.  A 
quarter  of  the  city  is  now  known  as  "  Roll's 
addition."  Mr.  Roll  was  well  acquainted  with 
Lincoln,  and  when  the  President  left  Springfield 
he  gave  Mr.  Roll  his  dog  Fido.  Mr.  Roll  knew 
Stephen  A.  Douglas  well,  and  carries  a  watch 
which  once  belonged  to  the  "Little  Giant." 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 


While  he  never  at 
tempted  to  conceal  the 
poverty  and  hardship  of 
these  days,  and  would 
speak  humorously  of  the 
"  pretty  pinching  times  " 
he  saw,  he  never  regard 
ed  his  life  at  this  time 
as  mean  or  pitiable.  Fre 
quently  he  talked  to  his 
friends  in  later  days  of 
his  boyhood,  and  always 
with  apparent  pleasure. 
"Mr.  Lincoln  told  this 
story"  (of  his  youth), 
says  Leonard  Swett,  "as 
the  story  of  a  happy 
childhood.  There  was 
nothing  sad  or  pinched, 
and  nothing  of  want,  and 
no  allusion  to  want  in 
any  part  of  it.  His  own 
description  of  his  youth 
was  that  of  a  joyous, 

happy  boyhood.  It  was  told  with  mirth  and  glee,  and  illus 
trated  by  pointed  anecdote,  often  interrupted  by  his  jocund 
laugh."  * 

And  he  was  right.  There  was  nothing  ignoble  or  mean  in  this 
Indiana  pioneer  life.  It  was  rude,  but  with  only  the  rudeness 
which  the  ambitious  are  willing  to  endure  in  order  to  push  on  to 
a  better  condition  than  they  otherwise  could  know.  These  people 
did  not  accept  their  hardships  apathetically.  They  did  not 
regard  them  as  permanent.  They  were  only  the  temporary 
deprivations  necessary  in  order  to  accomplish  what  they  had 
home  into  the  country  to  do.  For  this  reason  they  endured 
copefully  all  that  was  hard.  It  is  worth  notice,  too,  that  there 
was  nothing  belittling  in  their  life  ;  there  was  no  pauperism,  no 
shirking.  Each  family  provided  for  its  own  simple  wants,  and 
had  the  conscious  dignity  which  comes  from  being  equal  to  a 
situation.  If  their  lives  lacked  culture  and  refinement,  they  were 
rich  in  independence  and  self-reliance. 


SANGAMON  TOWN  IN   1831. 

Drawn  for  this  work  by  J.  McCan  Davis,  with 
the  aid  of  Mr.  John  E.  Roll,  a  former  resident. 


LINCOLN  IN   1859. 

From  a  photograph  in  the  collection  of  H.  W.  Fay,  De  Kalb,  Illinois.  The  original  was 
made  by  S.  M.  Fassett  of  Chicago ;  the  negative  was  destroyed  in  the  Chicago  fire.  This 
picture  was  made  at  the  solicitation  of  D.  B.  Cook,  who  says  that  Mrs.  Lincoln  pronounced  it 
the  best  likeness  she  had  ever  seen  of  her  husband.  Raj  on  used  the  Fassett  picture  as  the 
original  of  his  etching,  and  Kruell  has  made  a  fine  engraving  of  it. 


LINCOLN  AS  A   THRIFTY  PEDDLER. 


FROM    INDIANA   TO   ILLINOIS. 

The  company  which  emigrated  to  Illinois  included  the  family 
of  Thomas  Lincoln  and  those  of  Dennis  Hanks  and  Levi  Hall,  mar 
ried  to  Lincoln's  step-sisters — thirteen  persons  in  all.  They  sold 
land,  cattle,  and  grain,  and  much  of  their  household  goods,  and 
were  ready  in  March  of  1830  for  their  journey.  All  the  posses 
sions  which  the  three  families  had  to  take  with  them  were  packed 
into  a  big  wagon — the  first  one  Thomas  Lincoln  had  ever  owned, 
it  is  said— to  which  four  oxen  were  attached,  and  the  caravan  was 
ready.  The  weather  was  still  cold,  the  streams  were  swollen,  and 
the  roads  were  muddy  ;  but  the  party  started  out  bravely.  Inured 
to  hardships,  alive  to  all  the  new  sights  on  their  route,  every 
day  brought  them  amusement  and  adventures,  and  especially  to 
young  Lincoln  the  journey  must  have  been  of  keen  interest. 

He  drove  the  oxen  on  this  trip,  he  tells  us,  and,  according  to 
a  story  current  in  Gentryville,  he  succeeded  in  doing  a  fair  ped 
dler' s  business  on  the  route.  Captain  William  Jones,  in  whose 
father' s  store  Lincoln  had  spent  so  many  hours  in  discussion  and 
in  story -telling,  and  for  whom  he  had  worked  the  last  winter  he 
was  in  Indiana,  says  that  before  leaving  the  State  Abraham  in 
vested  all  his  money,  some  thirty-odd  dollars,  in  notions. 
Though  the  country  through  which  they  expected  to  pass  was 
but  sparsely  settled,  he  believed  he  could  dispose  of  them.  "  A 
set  of  knives  and  forks  was  the  largest  item  entered  on  the  bill," 
says  Captain  Jones  ;  "  the  other  items  were  needles,  pins,  thread, 
buttons,  and  other  little  domestic  necessities.  When  the  Lin- 
coins  reached  their  new  home,  near  Decatur,  Illinois,  Abraham 
wrote  back  to  my  father,  stating  that  he  had  doubled  his  money 
on  his  purchases  by  selling  them  along  the  road.  Unfortunately 
we  did  not  keep  that  letter,  not  thinking  how  highly  we  would 
have  prized  it  years  afterwards." 

The  pioneers  were  a  fortnight  on  their  journey.  All  we  know 
of  the  route  they  took  is  from  a  few  chance  remarks  of  Lincoln's 
to  his  friends  to  the  effect  that  they  passed  through  Vincennes, 
where  they  saw  a  printing-press  for  the  first  time,  and  through 
Palestine,  where  they  saw  a  juggler  performing  sleight-of-hand 
tricks.  They  reached  Macon  County,  their  new  home,  from  the 
south.  Mr.  H.  C.  Whitney  says  that  once  in  Decatur  he  and 
Lincoln  passed  the  court-house  together.  "  Lincoln  walked  out  a 
few  feet  in  front,  and,  after  shifting  his  position  two  or  three 


100 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 


MODEL  OF  ABRAHAM   LINCOLN'S  DEVICE   FOR  LIFTING  VESSELS  OVER  SHOALS. 

The  inscription  above  this  model,  which  is  shown  to  all  visitors  to  the  Model  Hall  of  the  Patent  Office, 
reads  :  "  6469,  Abraham  Lincoln,  Springfield,  Illinois.  Improvement  in  method  of  lifting  vessels  over  shoals. 
Patented  May  22,  1849."  The  apparatus  consists  of  a  bellows  placed  in  each  side  of  the  hull  of  the  craft, 
just  below  the  water-line,  and  worked  by  an  odd  but  simple  system  of  ropes  and  pulleys.  When  the  keel 
of  the  vessel  grates  against  the  sand  or  obstruction,  the  bellows  is  filled  with  air  ;  and,  thus  buoyed  up,  the 
vessel  is  expected  to  float  over  the  shoal.  The  model  is  about  eighteen  or  twenty  inches  long,  and  looks  as 
if  it  had  been  whittled  with  a  knife  out  of  a  shingle  and  a  cigar  box.  There  is  no  elaboration  in  the  appa 
ratus  beyond  that  necessary  to  show  the  operation  of  buoying  the  vessel  over  the  obstructions. 

times,  said,  as  he  looked  up  at  the  building,  partly  to  himself 
and  partly  to  me  :  '  Here  is  the  exact  spot  where  I  stood  by  our 
wagon  when  we  moved  from  Indiana,  twenty-six  years  ago  ;  this 
isn't  six  feet  from  the  exact  spot.'  ...  I  asked  him  if  he, 
at  that  time,  had  expected  to  be  a  lawyer  and  practise  law  in  that 
court-house ;  to  which  he  replied  :  '  No  ;  I  didn't  know  I  had 
sense  enough  to  be  a  lawyer  then.'  He  then  told  me  he  had  fre 
quently  thereafter  tried  to  locate  the  route  by  which  they  had 
come,  and  that  he  had  decided  that  it  was  near  the  main  line  of 
the  Illinois  Central  Railroad." 

The  party  settled  some  ten  miles  west  of  Decatur,  in  Macon 


LINCOLN  SPLITS  RAILS  FOR  A  PAIR  OF  TROUSERS.     101 

County.  Here  John  Hanks  had  the  logs  already  cut  for  their 
new  home,  and  Lincoln,  Dennis  Hanks,  and  Hall  soon  had  a 
cabin  erected.  Mr.  Lincoln  says  in  his  short  autobiography  of 
1860,  which  he  wrote  in  the  third  person:  "Here  they  built  a 
log  cabin,  into  which  they  removed,  and  made  sufficient  of  rails 
to  fence  ten  acres  of  ground,  fenced  and  broke  the  ground,  and 
raised  a  crop  of  sown  corn  upon  it  the  same  year.  These  are,  or 
are  supposed  to  be,  the  rails  about  which  so  much  is  being  said 
just  now,  though  these  are  far  from  being  the  first  or  only  rails 
ever  made  by  Abraham." 

If  they  were  far  from  being  his  " first  and  only  rails,"  they 
certainly  were  the  most  famous  ones  he  or  anybody  else  ever 
split.  This  was  the  last  work  he  did  for  his  father,  for  in  the 
summer  of  that  year  (1830)  he  exercised  the  right  of  majority 
and  started  out  to  shift  for  himself.  When  he  left  his  home, 
he  went  empty-handed.  He  was  already  some  months  over 
twenty-one  years  of  age,  but  he  had  nothing  in  the  world,  not 
even  a  suit  of  respectable  clothes  ;  and  one  of  the  first  pieces  of 
work  he  did  was  "  to  split  four  hundred  rails  for  every  yard  of 
brown  jeans  dyed  with  white-walnut  bark  that  would  be  neces 
sary  to  make  him  a  pair  of  trousers."  He  had  no  trade,  no 
profession,  no  spot  of  land,  no  patron,  no  influence.  Two  things 
recommended  him  to  his  neighbors — he  was  strong,  and  he  was 
a  good  fellow. 

His  strength  made  him  a  valuable  laborer.  Not  that  he  was 
fond  of  hard  labor.  Mrs.  Crawford  says  :  "Abe  was  no  hand  to 
pitch  into  work  like  killing  snakes  ; "  but  when  he  did  work,  it 
was  with  an  ease  and  effectiveness  which  compensated  his  em 
ployer  for  the  time  he  spent  in  practical  jokes  and  extempora 
neous  speeches.  He  would  lift  as  much  as  three  ordinary  men, 
and  "My,  how  he  would  chop!"  says  Dennis  Hanks.  "  His 
axe  would  flash  and  bite  into  a  sugar- tree  or  sycamore,  and  down 
it  would  come.  If  you  heard  him  fellin'  trees  in  a  clearin',  you 
would  say  there  was  three  men  at  work  by  the  way  the  trees  fell." 

Standing  six  feet  four,  he  could  out-lift,  out- work,  and  out- 
wrestle  any  man  he  came  in  contact  with.  Friends  and  employers 
were  proud  of  his  prowess,  and  boasted  of  it,  never  failing  to  pit 
him  against  any  hero  whose  strength  they  heard  vaunted.  He 
himself  was  proud  of  it,  and  throughout  his  life  was  fond  of  com 
paring  himself  with  tall  and  strong  men.  When  the  committee 
called  on  him  in  Springfield,  in  1860,  to  notify  him  of  his  nomina- 


102  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 

tion  as  President,  Governor  Morgan  of  New  York  was  of  the 
number,  a  man  of  great  height  and  brawn.  "Pray,  Governor, 
how  tall  may  you  be  ?"  was  Mr.  Lincoln's  first  question.  There 
is  a  story  told  of  a  poor  man  seeking  a  favor  from  him  once  at 
the  White  House.  He  was  overpowered  by  the  idea  that  he 
was  in  the  presence  of  the  President,  and,  his  errand  done,  was 
edging  shyly  out,  when  Mr.  Lincoln  stopped  him,  insisting  that 
he  measure  with  him.  The  man  was  the  taller,  as  Mr.  Lincoln 
had  thought ;  and  he  went  away  evidently  as  much  abashed  that 
he  dared  be  taller  than  the  President  of  the  United  States  as 
that  he  had  dared  to  venture  into  his  presence. 

Governor  Hoyt  tells  an  excellent  story  illustrating  this  inter 
est  of  Lincoln's  in  manly  strength,  and  his  involuntary  compari 
son  of  himself  with  whoever  showed  it.  It  was  in  1859,  after 
Lincoln  had  delivered  a  speech  at  the  Wisconsin  State  Agricul 
tural  Fair  in  Milwaukee.  Governor  Hoyt  had  asked  him  to  make 
the  rounds  of  the  exhibits,  and  they  went  into  a  tent  to  see  a 
"  strong  man  "  perform.  He  went  through  the  ordinary  exercises 
with  huge  iron  balls,  tossing  them  in  the  air  and  catching  them, 
and  rolling  them  on  his  arms  and  back ;  and  Mr.  Lincoln,  who 
evidently  had  never  before  seen  such  a  combination  of  agility 
and  strength,  watched  him  with  intense  interest,  ejaculating 
under  his  breath  now  and  then,  "By  George!  By  George!" 
When  the  performance  was  over,  Governor  Hoyt,  seeing  Mr. 
Lincoln's  interest,  asked  him  to  go  up  and  be  introduced  to  the 
athlete.  He  did  so  ;  and,  as  he  stood  looking  down  musingly  on 
the  man,  who  was  very  short,  and  evidently  wondering  that  one 
so  much  smaller  than  he  could  be  so  much  stronger,  he  suddenly 
broke  out  with  one  of  his  quaint  speeches.  "Why,"  he  said, 
"why,  I  could  lick  salt  off  the  top  of  your  hat." 

His  strength  won  him  popularity,  but  his  good-nature,  his 
wit,  his  skill  in  debate,  his  stories,  were  still  more  efficient  in 
gaining  him  good-will.  People  liked  to  have  him  around,  and 
voted  him  a  good  fellow  to  work  with.  Yet  such  were  the  con 
ditions  of  his  life  at  this  time  that,  in  spite  of  his  popularity, 
nothing  was  open  to  him  but  hard  manual  labor.  To  take  the 
first  job  which  he  happened  upon — rail-splitting,  ploughing, 
lumbering,  boating,  store-keeping— and  make  the  most  of  it, 
thankful  if  thereby  he  earned  his  bed  and  board  and  yearly  suit 
of  jeans,  was  apparently  all  there  was  before  Abraham  Lincoln 
in  1830,  when  he  started  out  for  himself. 


LINCOLN,  OFPUTT,  AND   GREEN   ON   THE   FLATBOAT   AT   NEW   SALEM. 

From  a  painting  in  the  State  Capitol,  Springfield,  Illinois.  This  picture  is  crude  and  inaccurate. 
The  flatboat  built  by  Lincoln,  and  by  him  piloted  to  New  Orleans,  was  larger  than  the  one  here 
portrayed,  and  the  structure  over  the  dam  belittles  the  real  mill.  There  was  not  only  a  grist-mill, 
but  also  a  saw  mill.  The  mill  was  built  in  1829.  March  5,  1830,  we  find  John  Overstreet  averring 
before  the  County  Commissioners  "  that  John  Cameron  and  James  Rutledge  have  erected  a  mill-dam 
on  the  Sangamon  River  which  obstructs  the  navigation  of  said  river  ;  "  and  Cameron  and  Rutledge 
are  ordered  to  alter  the  dam  so  as  to  restore  "  safe  navigation.11  James  M.  Rutledge  of  Petersburg, 
a  nephew  of  the  mill-owner,  helped  build  the  mill,  and  says  :  "The  mill  was  a  frame  structure,  and 
was  solidly  built.  They  used  to  grind  corn  mostly,  though  some  flour  was  made.  At  times  they 
would  run  day  and  night.  The  saw-mill  had  an  old-fashioned  upright  saw,  and  stood  on  the  bank.1' 
For  a  time  this  mill  was  operated  by  Denton  Offutt,  under  the  supervision  of  Lincoln.  A  few  stakes, 
a  part  of  the  old  dam,  still  show  at  low  water. 


CHAPTER    VIII. 

FIRST   INDEPENDENT   WORK.— FIRST  APPEARANCE   IN  SANGAMON 
COUNTY.— VISIT   TO  NEW   ORLEANS   IN  1831. 


HROUGH  the  summer  and  fall  of  1830  and  the 
early  winter  of  1831,  Mr.  Lincoln  worked  in 
the  vicinity  of  his  father's  new  home,  usually 
as  a  farm-hand  and  rail-splitter.  Most  of  his 
work  was  done  in  company  with  John  Hanks. 
Before  the  end  of  the  winter  he  secured  em 
ployment  of  which  he  has  given  an  account 
himself,  though  in  the  third  person  : 

"  During  that  winter  Abraham,  together  with 
his  step-mother's  son,  John  D.  Johnston,  and  John  Hanks,  yet 
residing  in  Macon  County,  hired  themselves  to  Denton  Offutt  to 


104  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 

take  a  flatboat  from  Beard stown,  Illinois,  to  New  Orleans,  and 
for  that  purpose  were  to  join  him  (Offutt)  at  Springfield,  Illinois, 
so  soon  as  the  snow  should  go  off.  When  it  did  go  off,  which 
was  about  March  1,  1831,  the  country  was  so  flooded  as  to  make 
travelling  by  land  impracticable  ;  to  obviate  which  difficulty  they 
purchased  a  large  canoe  and  came  down  the  Sangamon  River  in 
it  from  where  they  were  all  living  (near  Decatur).  This  is  the 
time  and  manner  of  Abraham's  first  entrance  into  Sangamon 
County.  They  found  Offutt  at  Springfield,  but  learned  from  him 
that  he  had  failed  in  getting  a  boat  at  Beardstown.  This  led  to 
their  hiring  themselves  to  him  for  twelve  dollars  per  month  each, 
and  getting  the  timber  out  of  the  trees,  and  building  a  boat  at 
old  Sangamon  town,  on  the  Sangamon  River,  seven  miles  north 
west  of  Springfield,  which  boat  they  took  to  New  Orleans,  sub 
stantially  on  the  old  contract." 

Sangamon  town,  where  Mr.  Lincoln  built  the  flatboat,  has, 
since  his  day,  completely  disappeared  from  the  earth  ;  but  then 
it  was  one  of  the  flourishing  settlements  on  the  river  of  that 
name.  Lincoln  and  his  friends,  on  arriving  there  in  March, 
immediately  began  work.  There  is  still  living  in  Springfield, 
Illinois,  a  man  who  helped  Lincoln  at  the  raft-building — Mr. 
John  Roll,  a  well-known  citizen,  and  one  who  has  been  promi 
nent  in  the  material  advancement  of  the  city.  Mr.  Roll  remem 
bers  distinctly  Lincoln's  first  appearance  in  Sangamon  town. 
"He  was  a  tall,  gaunt  young  man,"  he  says,  "  dressed  in  a  suit 
of  blue  homespun  jeans,  consisting  of  a  roundabout  jacket, 
waistcoat,  and  breeches  which  came  to  within  about  four  inches 
of  his  feet.  The  latter  were  encased  in  rawhide  boots,  into  the 
tops  of  which,  most  of  the  time,  his  pantaloons  were  stuffed.  He 
wore  a  soft  felt  hat  which  had  at  one  time  been  black,  but  now, 
as  its  owner  dryly  remarked,  'was  sunburned  until  it  was  a 
combine  of  colors.' ' 

Mr.  Roll's  relation  to  the  new-comer  soon  became  something 
more  than  that  of  a  critical  observer  ;  he  hired  out  to  him,  and 
says  with  pride,  "I  made  every  pin  which  went  into  that  boat." 

LINCOLN'S  POPULARITY  IN  SANGAMON. 

It  took  some  four  weeks  to  build  the  raft,  and  in  that  period 
Lincoln  succeeded  in  captivating  the  entire  village  by  his  story 
telling.  It  was  the  custom  in  Sangamon  for  the  u  men-folks  "  to 


LINCOLN  BECOMES  THE  HERO   OF   THE  SANGAMON.       105 


THOMAS  LINCOLN'S  HOME  IN  ILLINOIS. 

This  cabin  was  built  by  Thomas  Lincoln  in  1831,  on  Goose  Nest  Prairie,  in  Coles  County,  Illinois, 
where  he  had  taken  up  forty  acres  of  land.  It  was  situated  nine  miles  south  of  Charleston,  on  what  is 
called  Lincoln's  Lane.  Here  Thomas  Lincoln  died  in  1851.  The  cabin  was  occupied  until  1891,  when  it 
was  bought  by  the  Lincoln  Log  Cabin  Association  to  be  shown  at  the  World's  Fair  in  1893. 

gather  at  noon  and  in  the  evening,  when  resting,  in  a  convenient 
lane  near  the  mill.  They  had  rolled  out  a  long  peeled  log,  on 
which  they  lounged  while  they  whittled  and  talked.  Lincoln 
had  not  been  long  in  Sangamon  before  he  joined  this  circle.  At 
once  he  became  a  favorite  by  his  jokes  and  good-humor.  As  soon 
as  he  appeared  at  the  assembly  ground  the  men  would  start  him 
to  story -telling.  So  irresistibly  droll  were  his  "yarns"  that, 
says  Mr.  Roll,  "  whenever  he'd  end  up  in  his  unexpected  way  the 
boys  on  the  log  would  whoop  and  roll  off."  The  result  of  the 
rolling  off  was  to  polish  the  log  like  a  mirror.  The  men,  recog 
nizing  Lincoln's  part  in  this  polishing,  christened  their  seat 
"  Abe's  log."  Long  after  Lincoln  had  disappeared  from  Sanga 
mon  "  Abe's  log"  remained,  and  until  it  had  rotted  away  people 
pointed  it  out,  and  repeated  the  droll  stories  of  the  stranger. 


106  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 


AN   EXCITING  ADVENTURE. 

The  flatboat  was  done  in  about  a  month,  and  Lincoln  and  his 
friends  prepared  to  leave  Sangamon.  Before  he  started,  how 
ever,  he  was  the  hero  of  an  adventure  so  thrilling  that  he  won 
new  laurels  in  the  community.  Mr.  Roll,  who  was  a  witness 
to  the  whole  exciting  scene,  tells  the  story : 

"  It  was  the  spring  following  the  winter  of  the  deep  snow.* 
Walter  Carman,  John  Seamon,  myself,  and  at  times  others  of 
the  Carman  boys  had  helped  Abe  in  building  the  boat,  and 
when  he  had  finished  we  went  to  work  to  make  a  dug-out,  or 
canoe,  to  be  used  as  a  small  boat  with  the  flat.  We  found  a 
suitable  log  about  an  eighth  of  a  mile  up  the  river,  and  with  our 
axes  went  to  work  under  Lincoln's  direction.  The  river  was  very 
high,  fairly  'booming.'  After  the  dug-out  was  ready  to  launch 
we  took  it  to  the  edge  of  the  water,  and  made  ready  to  4  let  her 
go,'  when  Walter  Carman  and  John  Seamon  jumped  in  as  the 
boat  struck  the  water,  each  one  anxious  to  be  the  first  to  get 
a  ride.  As  they  shot  out  from  the  shore  they  found  they  were 
unable  to  make  any  headway  against  the  strong  current.  Car 
man  had  the  paddle,  and  Seamon  was  in  the  stern  of  the  boat. 
Lincoln  shouted  to  them  to  '  head  up-stream,'  and  '  work  back  to 
shore,'  but  they  found  themselves  powerless  against  the  stream. 
At  last  they  began  to  pull  for  the  wreck  of  an  old  flatboat,  the 
first  ever  built  on  the  Sangamou,  which  had  sunk  and  gone  to 
pieces,  leaving  one  of  the  stanchions  sticking  above  the  water. 
Just  as  they  reached  it  Seamon  made  a  grab,  and  caught  hold  of 
the  stanchion,  when  the  canoe  capsized,  leaving  Seamon  clinging 
to  the  old  timber,  and  throwing  Carman  into  the  stream.  It 
carried  him  down  with  the  speed  of  a  mill-race.  Lincoln  raised 
his  voice  above  the  roar  of  the  flood,  and  yelled  to  Carman  to 
swim  for  an  elm  tree  which  stood  almost  in  the  channel,  which 
the  action  of  the  high  water  changed. 

"  Carman,  being  a  good  swimmer,  succeeded  in  catching  a 
branch,  and  pulled  himself  up  out  of  the  water,  which  was  very 
cold,  and  had  almost  chilled  him  to  death ;  and  there  he  sat 
shivering  and  chattering  in  the  tree.  Lincoln,  seeing  Carman 

*  1830-1831.  "The  winter  of  the  deep  snow  "  is  the  date  which  is  the  starting 
point  in  all  calculations  of  time  for  the  early  settlers  of  Illinois,  and  the  circumstance 
from  which  the  old  settlers  of  Saugamon  County  receive  the  name  by  which  they  are 
generally  known,  "Snow-birds." 


LINCOLN  SAVES  THREE  COMPANIONS  FROM  DROWNING.    107 


NEW   SALEM. 

From  a  painting  in  the  State  Capitol,  Springfield,  Illinois.  New  Salem  was  founded  by 
James  Rutledge  and  John  Cameron  in  1829.  In  that  year  they  built  a  dam  across  the  Sanga- 
mon  River,  and  erected  a  mill.  Under  date  of  October  23, 1829,  Reuben  Harrison,  surveyor, 
certifies  that  "  at  the  request  of  John  Cameron,  one  of  the  proprietors,  I  did  survey  the  town 
of  New  Salem."  The  town  within  two  years  contained  a  dozen  or  fifteen  houses,  nearly  all 
of  them  built  of  logs.  New  Salem's  population  probably  never  exceeded  a  hundred  persons. 
Its  inhabitants,  and  those  of  the  surrounding  country,  were  mostly  Southerners— natives  of 
Kentucky  and  Tennessee — though  there  was  an  occasional  Yankee  among  them.  Soon  after 
Lincoln  left  the  place,  in  the  spring  of  1837,  it  began  to  decline.  Petersburg  had  sprung  up 
two  miles  down  the  river,  and  rapidly  absorbed  its  population  and  business.  By  1840  New 
Salem  was  almost  deserted.  The  Rutledge  tavern,  the  first  house  erected,  was  the  last  to 
succumb.  It  stood  for  many  years,  but  at  last  crumbled  away.  Salem  hill  is  now  only  a 
green  cow  pasture. 

safe,  called  out  to  Seam  on  to  let  go  the  stanchion  and  swim  for 
the  tree.  With  some  hesitation  he  obeyed,  and  struck  out, 
while  Lincoln  cheered  and  directed  him  from  the  bank.  As 
Seamon  neared  the  tree  he  made  one  grab  for  a  branch,  and, 
missing  it,  went  under  the  water.  Another  desperate  lunge  was 
successful,  and  he  climbed  up  beside  Carman.  Things  were 
pretty  exciting  now,  for  there  were  two  men  in  the  tree,  and  the 
boat  was  gone. 

"  It  was  a  cold,  raw  April  day,  and  there  was  great  danger  of 
the  men  becoming  benumbed  and  falling  back  into  the  water. 
Lincoln  called  out  to  them  to  keep  their  spirits  up  and  he  would 


His  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 

save  them.  The  village  had  been  alarmed  by  this  time,  and 
many  people  had  come  down  to  the  bank.  Lincoln  procured  a 
rope,  and  tied  it  to  a  log.  He  called  all  hands  to  come  and  help 
roll  the  log  into  the  water,  and  after  this  had  been  done,  he,  with 
the  assistance  of  several  others,  towed  it  some  distance  up  the 
stream.  A  daring  young  fellow  by  the  name  of  '  Jim '  Dorrell 
then  took  his  seat  on  the  end  of  the  log,  and  it  was  pushed  out 
into  the  current,  with  the  expectation  that  it  would  be  earned 
down  stream  against  the  tree  where  Seam  on  and  Carman  were. 

"The  log  was  well  directed,  and  went  straight  to  the  tree ;  but 
Jim,  in  his  impatience  to  help  his  friends,  fell  a  victim  to  his 
good  intentions.  Making  a  frantic  grab  at  a  branch,  he  raised 
himself  off  the  log,  which  was  swept  from  under  him  by  the  rag 
ing  water,  and  he  soon  joined  the  other  two  victims  upon  their 
forlorn  perch.  The  excitement  on  shore  increased,  and  almost 
the  whole  population  of  the  village  gathered  on  the  river  bank. 
Lincoln  had  the  log  pulled  up  the  stream,  and,  securing  another 
piece  of  rope,  called  to  the  men  in  the  tree  to  catch  it  if  they 
could  when  he  should  reach  the  tree.  He  then  straddled  the  log 
himself,  and  gave  the  word  to  push  out  into  the  stream.  When 
he  dashed  into  the  tree,  he  threw  the  rope  over  the  stump  of  a 
broken  limb,  and  let  it  play  until  he  broke  the  speed  of  the  log, 
and  gradually  drew  it  back  to  the  tree,  holding  it  there  until  the 
three  now  nearly  frozen  men  had  climbed  down  and  seated  them 
selves  astride.  He  then  gave  orders  to  the  people  on  the  shore 
to  hold  fast  to  the  end  of  the  rope  which  was  tied  to  the  log,  and 
leaving  his  rope  in  the  tree  he  turned  the  log  adrift.  The 
force  of  the  current,  acting  against  the  taut  rope,  swung  the  log 
around  against  the  bank,  and  all  'on  board'  were  saved.  The 
excited  people,  who  had  watched  the  dangerous  experiment  with 
alternate  hope  and  fear,  now  broke  into  cheers  for  Abe  Lincoln 
and  praises  for  his  brave  act.  This  adventure  made  quite  a  hero 
of  him  along  the  Sangamon,  and  the  people  never  tired  of  telling 
of  the  exploit." 

A   SECOND   ADVENTURE. 

The  flatboat  built  and  loaded,  the  party  started  for  New 
Orleans  about  the  middle  of  April.  They  had  gone  but  a  few 
miles  when  they  met  with  another  adventure.  At  the  village  of 
New  Salem  there  was  a  mill-dam.  On  it  the  boat  stuck,  and  here 
for  nearly  twenty-four  hours  it  hung,  the  bow  in  the  air  and  the 


HOW  LINCOLN  TOOK  HIS  FLATBOAT  OVER  A   DAM.       109 


THE    NEW    SALEM    MI-LL    TWENTY-FIVE    YE.fl.RS    AGO. 


After  a  painting  by  Mrs.  Bennett ;  reproduced,  by  permission,  from  "  Menard-Salem-Lincoln  Souvenir 
Album,1'  Petersburg,  Illinois,  1893.  The  Rutledge  and  Cameron  mill,  of  which  Lincoln  at  one  time  had 
charge,  stood  on  the  same  spot  as  the  mill  in  the  picture,  and  had  the  same  foundation.  From  the  map  on 
page  116  it  will  be  seen  that  the  mill  was  below  the  bluff  and  east  of  the  town. 

stern  in  the  water,  the  cargo  slowly  setting  backward — shipwreck 
almost  certain.  The  village  of  New  Salem  turned  out  in  a  body 
to  see  what  the  strangers  would  do  in  their  predicament.  They 
shouted,  suggested,  and  advised  for  a  time,  but  finally  discovered 
that  one  big  fellow  in  the  crew  was  ignoring  them  and  working 
out  a  plan  of  relief.  Having  unloaded  the  cargo  into  a  neighbor 
ing  boat,  Lincoln  had  succeeded  in  tilting  his  craft.  Then,  by 
boring  a  hole  in  the  end  extending  over  the  dam,  the  water  was 
let  out.  This  done,  the  boat  was  easily  shoved  over  and  re 
loaded.  The  ingenuity  which  he  had  exercised  in  saving  his 
boat  made  a  deep  impression  on  the  crowd  on  the  bank,  and  it 
was  talked  over  for  many  a  day.  The  proprietor  of  boat  and 
cargo  was  even  more  enthusiastic  than  the  spectators,  and 
vowed  he  would  build  a  steamboat  for  the  Sangamon  and  make 


110 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 


A  MATRON   OF  NEW   SALEM  IN  1832. 

This  costume,  worn  by  Mrs.  Lucy  M. 
Bennett  of  Petersburg,  Illinois,  has  been 
a  familiar  attraction  at  old  settlers' 
gatherings  in  Menard  County  for  years. 
The  dress  was  made  by  Mrs.  Hill  of 
New  Salem  ;  and  the  reticule,  or  work- 
bag,  will  be  readily  recognized  by  those 
who  have  any  recollection  of  the  early 
days.  The  bonnet  occupied  a  place  in 
the  store  of  Samuel  Hill  at  New  Salem. 
It  was  taken  from  the  store  by  Mrs. 
Hill,  worn  for  a  time  by  her,  and  has 
been  carefully  preserved  to  this  day. 
It  is  an  imported  bonnet— a  genuine 
Leghorn— and  of  a  kind  so  costly  that 
Mr.  Hill  made  only  an  occasional  sale 
of  one.  Its  price,  in  fact,  was  twenty- 
five  dollars. 


native  American  party. 

dominating  elements  were  added  Germans, 

French,    Spanish,    negroes,    and   Indians. 


Lincoln  the  captain.  Lincoln  himself 
was  interested  in  what  he  had  done, 
and  nearly  twenty  years  later  he  em 
bodied  his  reflections  on  this  adven 
ture  in  a  curious  invention  for  getting 
boats  over  shoals. 

NEW   ORLEANS   IN  1831. 

The  raft  over  the  New  Salem  dam, 
the  party  went  on  to  New  Orleans, 
reaching  there  in  May,  1831,  and 
remaining  a  month.  It  must  have 
been  a  month  of  intense  intellectual 
activity  for  Lincoln.  Since  his  first 
visit,  made  with  young  Gentry,  New 
Orleans  had  entered  upon  her  "  flush 
times."  Commerce  was  increasing  at 
a  rate  which  dazzled  speculators,  and 
drew  them  from  all  over  the  United 
States.  From  1830  to  1840  no  other 
American  city  increased  in  such  a 
ratio  ;  exports  and  imports,  which  in 
1831  amounted  to  $26,000,000,  in  1835 
had  more  than 
doubled.  The 
Creole  popula 
tion  had  held 
the  sway  so  far 
in  the  city ;  but 
now  it  came  into 
competition, 
and  often  into 
conflict,  with  a 
pushing,  ambi 
tious,  and  fre- 
quently  un- 
s  c  r  upulous 
To  these  two  pre- 


A   NEW   SALEM   BONNET. 


LINCOLN'S  EXPERIENCES  IN  NEW  ORLEANS.  Ill 


THE   SITE   OF   NEW   SALEM   AS   IT   APPEAKS   TO-DAY. 


Cosmopolitan  in  its  make-up,  the  city  was  even  more  cosmo 
politan  in  its  life.  Everything  was  to  be  seen  in  New  Orleans 
in  those  days,  from  the  idle  luxury  of  the  wealthy  Creole  to 
the  organization  of  filibustering  juntas.  The  pirates  still  plied 
their  trade  in  the  Gulf,  and  the  Mississippi  River  brought  down 
hundreds  of  river  boatmen— one  of  the  wildest,  wickedest  sets 
of  men  that  ever  existed  in  any  city. 

Lincoln  and  his  companions  ran  their  boat  up  beside  thou 
sands  of  others.  It  was  the  custom  to  tie  such  craft  along  the 
river  front  where  St.  Mary's  Market  now  stands,  and  one  could 
walk  a  mile,  it  is  said,  over  the  tops  of  these  boats  without 


112  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 

going  ashore.  No  doubt  Lincoln  went,  too,  to  live  in  the  boat 
men' s  rendezvous,  called  the  "  swamp,"  a  wild,  rough  quarter, 
where  roulette,  whiskey,  and  the  flint-lock  pistol  ruled. 

All  of  the  picturesque  life,  the  violent  contrasts  of  the  city, 
he  would  see  as  he  wandered  about  ;  and  he  would  carry  away 
the  sharp  impressions  which  are  produced  when  mind  and  heart 
are  alert,  sincere,  and  healthy. 

In  this  month  spent  in  New  Orleans  Lincoln  must  have  seen 
much  of  slavery.  At  that  time  the  city  was  full  of  slaves,  and 
the  number  was  constantly  increasing  ;  indeed,  one-third  of  the 
New  Orleans  increase  in  population  between  1830  and  1840  was 
in  negroes.  One  of  the  saddest  features  of  the  institution  was 
to  be  seen  there  in  its  most  aggravated  form — the  slave  market. 
The  better  class  of  slave-holders  of  the  South,  who  looked  on  the 
institution  as  patriarchal,  and  who  guarded  their  slaves  with 
conscientious  care,  knew  little,  it  should  be  said,  of  this  terrible 
traffic.  Their  transfer  of  slaves  was  humane,  but  in  the  open 
markets  of  the  city  it  was  attended  by  shocking  cruelty  and 
degradation. 

Lincoln  witnessed  in  New  Orleans  for  the  first  time  the  re 
volting  sight  of  men  and  women  sold  like  animals.  Mr.  Hern- 
don  says  that  he  often  heard  Mr.  Lincoln  refer  to  this  experi 
ence.  "In  New  Orleans  for  the  first  time,"  he  writes,  "  Lincoln 
beheld  the  true  horrors  of  human  slavery.  He  saw  '  negroes  in 
chains — whipped  and  scourged.'  Against  this  inhumanity  his 
sense  of  right  and  justice  rebelled,  and  his  mind  and  conscience 
were  awakened  to  a  realization  of  what  he  had  often  heard  and 
read.  No  doubt,  as  one  of  his  companions  has  said,  'slavery 
ran  the  iron  into  him  then  and  there.' 

"  One  morning,  in  their  rambles  over  the  city,  the  trio  passed 
a  slave  auction.  A  vigorous  and  comely  mulatto  girl  was  being 
sold.  She  underwent  a  thorough  examination  at  the  hands  of 
the  bidders  ;  they  pinched  her  flesh,  and  made  her  trot  up  and 
down  the  room  like  a  horse,  to  show  how  she  moved,  and  in 
order,  as  the  auctioneer  said,  that  '  bidders  might  satisfy  them 
selves  '  whether  the  article  they  were  offering  to  buy  was  sound 
or  not.  The  whole  thing  was  so  revolting  that  Lincoln  moved 
away  from  the  scene  with  a  deep  feeling  of  <  unconquerable  hate.' 
Bidding  his  companions  follow  him,  he  said:  'Boys,  let's  get 
away  from  this.  If  ever  I  get  a  chance  to  hit  that  thing'  (mean 
ing  slavery),  '  I'll  hit  it  hard.'  " 


MR.   LINCOLN  IN   1857. 

The  original  of  this  picture  is  an  ambrotype  owned  by  C.  F.  Gunther  of  Chicago,  who  bought  it  from 
W.  H.  Somers  of  El  Cajon,  California.  Mr.  Somers  bought  the  original  directly  from  the  artist,  a  Mr. 
Alschuler  of  Urbana,  Illinois.  In  a  recent  letter  he  explains  why  he  bought  the  picture  :  "  At  the  time  I 
was  clerk  of  the  circuit  court,  and  was  about  as  well  acquainted  with  Mr.  Lincoln  as  with  most  of  the 
forty-odd  lawyers  who  practised  law  in  the  circuit.  Of  course  I  was  then  quite  a  young  man,  and  the  fall 
term  of  1857  was  my  first  term  as  clerk.  On  the  opening  day  of  court,  which  was  always  an  interesting 
occasion,  largely  because  we  were  curious  to  see  what  attorneys  from  a  distance  were  in  attendance,  while 
sitting  at  my  desk  and  watching  the  lawyers  take  their  places  within  the  bar  of  the  court-room,  I  observed 
that  Mr.  Lincoln  was  among  them;  and  as  I  looked  in  his  direction,  he  arose  from  his  seat,  and  came 
forward  and  gave  me  a  cordial  hand-shake,  accompanying  the  action  with  words  of  congratulation  on  my 
election.  I  mention  this  fact  because  the  conduct  of  Mr.  Lincoln  was  so  in  contrast  with  that  of  the 
other  members  of  the  bar  that  it  touched  me  deeply,  and  made  me,  ever  afterwards,  his  steadfast  friend." 

Mr.  J.  O.  Cunningham,  who  was  present  when  the  picture  was  taken,  writes  us  as  follows  of  the  cir 
cumstances  :  "  One  morning  I  was  in  the  gallery  of  Mr.  Alschuler,  when  Mr.  Lincoln  came  into  the  room 
and  said  he  had  been  informed  that  he  (Alschuler)  wished  him  to  sit  for  a  picture.  Alschuler  said  he  had 
sent  such  a  message  to  Mr.  Lincoln,  but  he  could  not  take  the  picture  in  that  coat  (referring  to  a  lineu 
duster  in  which  Mr.  Lincoln  was  clad),  and  asked  if  he  had  not  a  dark  coat  in  which  he  could  sit.  Mr. 
Lincoln  said  he  had  not ;  that  this  was  the  only  coat  he  had  brought  with  him  from  his  home.  Alschuler 
said  he  could  wear  his  coat,  and  gave  it  to  Mr.  Lincoln,  who  pulled  off  the  duster  and  put  on  the  artist's 
coat.  Alschuler  was  a  very  short  man,  with  short  arms,  but  with  a  body  nearly  as  large  as  the  body  of  Mr. 
Lincoln.  The  arms  of  the  latter  extended  through  the  sleeves  of  the  coat  of  Alschuler  a  quarter  of  a  yard, 
making  him  quite  ludicrous,  at  which  he  (Lincoln)  laughed  immoderately,  and  sat  down  for  the  picture  to 
be  taken  with  an  effort  at  being  sober  enough  for  the  occasion.  The  lips  in  the  picture  show  this." 

8 


NEW  SALEM  AS  LINCOLN  FIRST  KNEW  IT.  115 

Mr.  Herndon  gives  John  Hanks  as  his  authority  for  this  state 
ment.  This  is  plainly  an  error ;  for,  according  to  Mr.  Lincoln 
himself,  Hanks  did  not  go  on  to  New  Orleans,  but,  having  a 
family,  and  finding  that  he  was  likely  to  be  detained  from  home 
longer  than  he  had  expected,  he  turned  back  at  St.  Louis. 
Though  there  is  reason  for  believing  that  Lincoln  was  deeply 
impressed  on  this  trip  by  something  he  saw  in  a  New  Orleans 
slave  market,  and  that  he  often  referred  to  it,  the  story  told 
above  probably  grew  to  its  present  proportions  by  much  telling. 


CHAPTER   IX. 

LINCOLN    SETTLES    IN    NEW    SALEM.— HE    BECOMES    A    GROCERY 
CLERK.— HIS    POPULARITY    IN    NEW    SALEM. 


HE  month  in  New  Orleans  passed  swiftly,  and  in 
June,  1831,  Lincoln  and  his  companions  took 
passage  up  the  river.  He  did  not  return,  how 
ever,  in  the  usual  way  of  the  river  boatman  "  out 
of  a  job."  According  to  his  own  way  of  put 
ting  it,  "during  this  boat-enterprise  acquaint 
ance  with  Offutt,  who  was  previously  an  entire 
stranger,  he  conceived  a  liking  for  Abraham, 
and  believing  he  could  turn  him  to  account,  he 
contracted  with  him  to  act  as  a  clerk  for  him  on  his  return  from 
New  Orleans,  in  charge  of  a  store  and  mill  at  New  Salem."  The 
store  and  mill  were,  however,  so  far  only  in  Offutt' s  imagination, 
and  Lincoln  had  to  drift  about  until  his  employer  was  ready  for 
him.  He  made  a  short  visit  to  his  father  and  mother,  now  in 
Coles  County,  near  Charleston  (fever  and  ague  had  driven  the 
Lincolns  from  their  first  home  in  Macon  County),  and  then,  in 
July,  1831,  he  went  to  New  Salem,  where,  as  he  says,  he  "  stopped 
indefinitely,  and  for  the  first  time,  as  it  were,  by  himself." 

The  village  of  New  Salem,  the  scene  of  Lincoln's  mercantile 
career,  was  one  of  the  many  little  towns  which,  in  the  pioneer 
days,  sprang  up  along  the  Sangamon  River,  a  stream  then  looked 
upon  as  navigable  and  as  destined  to  be  counted  among  the  high 
ways  of  commerce.  Twenty  miles  northwest  of  Springfield, 
strung  along  the  left  bank  of  the  Sangamon,  parted  by  hollows 
and  ravines,  is  a  row  of  high  hills.  On  one  of  these — a  long, 


MAP   OP   NEW   SALEM. — MADE   ESPECIALLY   FOR   THIS   WOKK. 

Map  drawn  by  J.  McCan  Davis,  aided  by  surviving  inhabitants  of  New  Salem.  Dr.  John  Allen  was  the 
leading  physician  of  New  Salem.  He  was  a  Yankee,  and  was  at  first  looked  upon  with  suspicion,  but  he 
was  soon  conducting  a  Sunday-school  and  temperance  society,  though  strongly  opposed  by  the  conserva 
tive  church  people.  Dr.  Allen  attended  Ann  Rutledge  in  her  last  illness.  He  was  thrifty,  and,  moving  tx> 
Petersburg  in  1840,  became  wealthy.  He  died  in  1860.  Dr.  Francis  Regnier  was  a  rival  physician  and  a 
respected  citizen.  Samuel  Hill  and  John  McNeill  (whose  real  name  subsequently  proved  to  be  McNamar} 
operated  a  general  store  next  to  Berry  and  Lincoln's  grocery.  Mr.  Hill  also  owned  the  carding-machine.  He 
moved  his  store  to  Petersburg  in  1839,  and  engaged  in  business  there,  dying  quite  wealthy.  Jack  Kelso 
followed  a  variety  of  callings,  being  occasionally  a  school-teacher,  now  and  then  a  grocery  clerk,  and 
always  a  fisher  and  hunter.  He  was  a  man  of  some  culture,  and  when  warmed  by  liquor,  quoted  Shakes 
peare  and  Burns  profusely,  a  habit  which  won  for  him  the  close  friendship  of  Lincoln.  Joshua  Miller  was 
a  blacksmith,  and  lived  in  the  same  house  with  Kelso — a  double  house.  He  is  said  to  be  still  living,  some 
where  in  Nebraska.  Miller  and  Kelso  were  brothers-in-law.  Philemon  Morris  was  a  tinner.  Henry 
Onstott  was  a  cooper  by  trade.  He  was  an  elder  in  the  Cumberland  Presbyterian  Church,  and  meetings 
were  often  held  at  his  house.  Rev.  John  Berry,  father  of  Lincoln's  partner,  frequently  preached  there. 
Robert  Johnson  was  a  wheelwright,  and  his  wife  took  in  weaving.  Martin  Waddell  was  a  hatter.  He 
was  the  best-natured  man  in  town,  Lincoln  possibly  excepted.  The  Trent  brothers,  who  succeeded  Berry 
and  Lincoln  as  proprietors  of  the  store,  worked  in  his  shop  for  a  time.  William  Clary,  one  of  the  first 
settlers  of  New  Salem,  was  one  of  a  numerous  family,  most  of  whom  lived  in  the  vicinity  of  "Clary's 
Grove."  Isaac  Burner  was  the  father  of  Daniel  Green  Burner,  Berry  and  Lincoln's  clerk.  Alexander 
Ferguson  worked  at  odd  jobs.  He  had  two  brothers,  John  and  Elijah.  Isaac  Gollaher  lived  in  a  house 
belonging  to  John  Ferguson.  "  Row  "  Herndon,  at  whose  house  Lincoln  boarded  for  a  year  or  more 
after  going  to  New  Salem,  moved  to  the  country  after  selling  his  store  to  Berry  and  Lincoln.  John  Cameron> 
•ne  of  the  founders  of  the  town,  was  a  Presbyterian  preacher  and  a  highly  esteemed  citizen. 


LINCOLN'S  FIRST  EMPLOYMENT  IN  NEW  SALEM.        117 


narrow  ridge,  beginning  with  a 
sharp  and  sloping  point  near  the 
river,  running  south,  and  paral 
lel  with  the  stream  a  little  way, 
and  then,  reaching  its  highest 
point,  making  a  sudden  turn  to 
the  west,  and  gradually  widen 
ing  until  lost  in  the  prairie — stood 
this  frontier  village.  The  crook 
ed  river  for  a  short  distance 
comes  from  the  east,  and,  seem 
ingly  surprised  at  meeting  the 
bluff,  abruptly  changes  its  course, 
and  flows  to  the  north.  Across 
the  river  the  bottom  stretches  out 
half  a  mile  back  to  the  highlands. 
New  Salem,  founded  in  1829  by 
James  Eutledge  and  John  Cam 
eron,  and  a  dozen  years  later  a 
deserted  village,  is  rescued  from 
oblivion  only  by  the  fact  that 
Lincoln  was  once  one  of  its  inhabi 
tants.  His  first  sight  of  the  town 
had  been  in  April,  1831,  when 
he  and  his  crew  had  been  de 
tained  in  getting  their  flatboat 
over  the  Rutledge  and  Cameron 
mill-dam.  When  Lincoln  walked 
into  New  Salem,  three  months 
later,  he  was  not  altogether  a 
stranger,  for  the  people  remem 
bered  him  as  the  ingenious  flat- 
boatman  who  had  freed  his  boat 
from  water  (and  thus  enabled  it  to  get  over  the  dam)  by  resort 
ing  to  the  miraculous  expedient  of  boring  a  hole  in  the  bottom. 

Offutt' s  goods  had  not  arrived  when  Mr.  Lincoln  reached  New 
Salem  ;  and  he  ' '  loafed ' '  about,  so  those  who  remember  his 
arrival  say,  good-naturedly  taking  a  hand  in  whatever  he  could 
find  to  do,  and  in  his  droll  way  making  friends  of  everybody. 
By  chance,  a  bit  of  work  fell  to  him  almost  at  once,  which  intro 
duced  him  generally  and  gave  him  an  opportunity  to  make  a 


WILLIAM   G.   GREENE. 

William  G.  Greene  was  one  of  the  earliest 
friends  of  Lincoln  at  New  Salem.  He  stood  on 
the  bank  of  the  Sangamon  River  on  the  19th  of 
April,  1831,  and  watched  Lincoln  bore  a  hole  in 
the  bottom  of  the  flatboat  which  had  lodged  on 
the  mill-dam,  so  that  the  water  might  run  out. 
A  few  months  later  he  and  Lincoln  were  both 
employed  by  the  enterprising  Denton  Offutt 
as  clerks  in  the  store  and  managers  of  the  mill 
which  had  been  leased  by  Offutt.  It  was  Will 
iam  G.  Greene  who,  returning  home  from  col 
lege  at  Jacksonville  on  a  vacation,  brought 
Richard  Yates  with  him,  and  introduced  him  to 
Lincoln,  the  latter  being  found  stretched  out  on 
the  cellar  door  of  Bowling  Green's  cabin,  read 
ing  a  book.  Mr.  Greene  was  born  in  Tennessee 
in  1812,  and  went  to  Illinois  in  1822.  After  the 
disappearance  of  New  Salem  he  removed  to 
Tallula,  a  few  miles  away,  where  in  after  years 
he  engaged  in  the  banking  business.  He  died 
in  1894,  after  amassing  a  fortune. 


118 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 


name  in  the  neighborhood.  It  was  election  day.  The  village 
school-master,  Mentor  Graham  by  name,  was  clerk,  but  the 
assistant  was  ill.  Looking  about  for  some  one  to  help  him,  Mr. 
Graham  saw  a  tall  stranger  loitering  around  the  polling-place, 
and  called  to  him,  "  Can  you  write  ? "  "  Yes,"  said  the  stranger, 
"  I  can  make  a  few  rabbit  tracks."  Mr.  Graham  evidently  was 
satisfied  with  the  answer,  for  he  promptly  initiated  him  ;  and  he 
filled  his  place  not  only  to  the  satisfaction  of  his  employer,  but 
also  to  the  delectation  of  the  loiterers  about  the  polls,  for  when 
ever  things  dragged  he  immediately  began  "  to  spin  out  a  stock 
of  Indiana  yarns."  So  droll  were  they  that  years  afterward 
men  who  listened  to  Lincoln  that  day  repeated  them  to  their 
friends.  He  had  made  a  hit  in  New  Salem,  to  start  with,  and 
here,  as  in  Sangamon  town,  it  was  by  means  of  his  story-telling. 
His  next  work  was  to  pilot  down  the  Sangamon  and  Illinois 
rivers,  as  far  as  Beardstown,  a  fiatboat  bearing  the  family  and 
goods  of  a  pioneer  bound  for  Texas.  At  Beardstown  he  found 
Offutt's  goods,  waiting  to  be  taken  to  New  Salem.  As  he  footed 
his  way  home  he  met  two  men  with  a  wagon  and  ox-team  going 
for  the  goods.  Offutt  had  expected  Lincoln  to  wait  at  Beards- 
town  until  the  ox- team  arrived,  and  the  teamsters,  not  having 
any  credentials,  asked  Lincoln  to  give  them  an  order  for  the 
goods.  This,  sitting  down  by  the  roadside,  he  wrote  out ;  and 
one  of  the  men  used  to  relate  that  it  contained  a  misspelled  word, 
which  he  corrected. 


IN    CHARGE    OF    DEN- 

TON    OFFUTT'S 

STORE. 

The  precise  date 
of  the  opening  of 
Denton  Offutt' s  store 
is  not  known.  We 
only  know  that  on 
July  8,  1831,  the 
County  Commission 
ers'  Court  of  Sanga 
mon  County  granted 
Offutt  a  license  to 
retail  merchandise  at 


A  NEW   SALEM   SPINNING-WHEEL. 


THE  FRONTIER   STORE  IN  LINCOLN'S  DAY.  119 


A  NEW  SALEM   INTERIOR,    SHOWING  GENUINE  NEW   SALEM   COSTUMES    AND    FURNITURE  STILL    EXTANT. 

Reproduced  by  permission  from  "  Menard-Salem-Lincoln  Souvenir  Album,"  Petersburg,  Illinois,  1893. 

New  Salem,  for  which  he  paid  five  dollars,  a  fee  which  supposed 
him  to  have  one  thousand  dollars'  worth  of  goods  in  stock. 
When  the  oxen  and  their  drivers  returned  with  the  goods,  the 
store  was  opened  in  a  little  log  house  on  the  brink  of  the  hill, 
almost  over  the  river. 

The  frontier  store  filled  a  unique  place.  Usually  it  was  a 
"general  store,"  and  on  its  shelves  were  found  most  of  the  arti 
cles  needed  in  a  community  of  pioneers.  But  to  be  a  place  for 
the  sale  of  dry  goods  and  groceries  was  not  its  only  function  ;  it 
was  a  kind  of  intellectual  and  social  centre.  It  was  the  common 
meeting-place  of  the  farmers,  the  happy  refuge  of  the  village 
loungers.  No  subject  was  unknown  there.  The  habitues  of  the 
place  were  equally  at  home  in  discussing  politics,  religion,  or 
sports.  Stories  were  told,  jokes  w^ere  cracked  and  laughed  at,  and 
the  news  contained  in  the  latest  newspaper  finding  its  way  into 


120  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 

the  wilderness  was  repeated  again  and  again.  Such  a  store  was 
that  of  Denton  Offutt.  Lincoln  could  hardly  have  chosen  sur 
roundings  more  favorable  to  the  highest  development  of  the  art 
of  story-telling,  and  he  had  not  been  there  long  before  his  repu 
tation  for  drollery  was  established. 

THE  CLARY'S  GROVE  BOYS. 

But  he  gained  popularity  and  respect  in  other  ways.  There 
was  near  the  village  a  settlement  called  Clary's  Grove.  The 
most  conspicuous  part  of  the  population  was  an  organization 
known  as  the  "  Clary's  Grove  Boys."  They  exercised  a  veritable 
terror  over  the  neighborhood,  and  yet  they  were  not  a  vicious 
band.  Mr.  Herndon,  who  had  a  cousin  living  in  New  Salem  at 
the  time,  and  who  knew  personally  many  of  the  "boys,"  says  : 

"They  were  friendly  and  good-natured;  they  could  trench  a 
pond,  dig  a  bog,  build  a  house  ;  they  could  pray  and  fight,  make 
a  village  or  create  a  State.  They  would  do  almost  anything  for 
sport  or  fun,  love  or  necessity.  Though  rude  and  rough  ;  though 
life's  forces  ran  over  the  edge  of  the  bowl,  foaming  and  spark 
ling  in  pure  deviltry  for  deviltry's  sake,  yet  place  before  them  a 
poor  man  who  needed  their  aid,  a  lame  or  sick  man,  a  defence 
less  woman,  a  widow,  or  an  orphaned  child,  they  melted  into 
sympathy  and  charity  at  once.  They  gave  all  they  had,  and 
willingly  toiled  or  played  cards  for  more.  Though  there  never 
was  under  the  sun  a  more  generous  parcel  of  rowdies,  a  stran 
ger's  introduction  was  likely  to  be  the  most  unpleasant  part  of 
his  acquaintance  with  them." 

Denton  Offutt,  Lincoln's  employer,  was  just  the  man  to  love 
to  boast  before  such  a  crowd.  He  seemed  to  feel  that  Lincoln's 
physical  prowess  shed  glory  on  himself,  and  he  declared  the 
country  over  that  his  clerk  could  lift  more,  throw  farther,  run 
faster,  jump  higher,  and  wrestle  better  than  any  man  in  Sanga- 
mon  County.  The  Clary's  Grove  Boys,  of  course,  felt  in  honor 
bound  to  prove  this  false,  and  they  appointed  their  best  man, 
one  Jack  Armstrong,  to  "  throw  Abe."  Jack  Armstrong  was, 
according  to  the  testimony  of  all  who  remember  him,  a  "  power 
ful  twister,"  " square  built  and  strong  as  an  ox,"  "the  best- 
made  man  that  ever  lived;"  and  everybody  knew  the  contest 
would  be  close.  Lincoln  did  not  like  to  "  tussle  and  scuffle  ; "  he 
objected  to  "woolling  and  pulling;"  but  Offutt  had  gone  so 


LINCOLN  CONQUERS  CLARY'S  GROVE. 


121 


VIEW  FROM  THE  TOP  OF  NEW  SALEM  HILL. 


far  that  it  became  necessary  to  yield.  The  match  was  held  on 
the  ground  near  the  grocery.  Clary's  Grove  and  New  Salem 
turned  out  generally  to  witness  the  bout,  and  betting  on  the 
result  ran  high,  the  community  as  a  whole  staking  their  jack- 
knives,  tobacco-plugs,  and  "treats"  on  Armstrong.  The  two 
men  had  scarcely  taken  hold  of  each  other  before  it  was  evident 
that  the  Clary's  Grove  champion  had  met  a  match.  The  two 
men  wrestled  long  and  hard,  but  both  kept  their  feet.  Neither 
could  throw  the  other,  and  Armstrong,  convinced  of  this,  tried  a 
"foul."  Lincoln  no  sooner  realized  the  game  of  his  antagonist 
than,  furious  with  indignation,  he  caught  him  by  the  throat  and, 
holding  him  out  at  arm's  length,  "shook  him  like  a  child." 


122 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 


Armstrong's  friends  rushed 
to  his  aid,  and  for  a  moment 
it  looked  as  if  Lincoln 
would  be  routed  by  sheer 
force  of  numbers.  But  he 
held  his  own  so  bravely 
that  the  "boys,"  in  spite 
of  their  sympathies,  were 
filled  with  admiration. 
What  bade  fair  to  be  a  gen 
eral  fight  ended  in  a  general 
hand-shake,  even  Jack 
Armstrong  declaring  that 
Lincoln  was  the  "best  fel 
low  who  ever  broke  into 
the  camp."  From  that 
day,  at  the  cock-fights  and 
horse-races,  which  were 
their  common  sports,  he 
became  the  chosen  umpire  ; 
and  when  the  entertain 
ment  broke  up  in  a  row— 
a  not  uncommon  occurrence 
— he  acted  the  peacemaker 
without  suffering  the 
peacemaker's  usual  fate. 
Such  was  his  reputation 
with  the  "Clary's  Grove 
Boys,"  after  three  months 
in  New  Salem,  that  when 
the  fall  muster  came  off  he 
was  elected  captain. 

Lincoln  showed  soon 
that  if  he  was  unwilling 
to  indulge  in  ' '  woolling  and 
pulling"  for  amusement, 
he  did  not  object  to  it  in  a  case  of  honor.  A  man  came  into  the 
store  one  day  when  women  were  present,  and  used  profane  lan 
guage.  Lincoln  asked  him  to  stop ;  but  the  man  persisted, 
swearing  that  nobody  should  prevent  his  saying  what  he  wanted 
to.  The  women  gone,  the  man  began  to  abuse  Lincoln  so  hotly 


MENTOR    GRAHAM. 

Mentor  Graham  was  the  New  Salem  school-master.  He 
it  was  who  assisted  Lincoln  in  mastering  Kirkham's  Gram 
mar,  and  later  gave  him  valuable  assistance  when  Lincoln 
was  learning  the  theory  of  surveying.  He  taught  in  a  little 
log  school-house  on  a  hill  south  of  the  village,  just  across 
Green's  Rocky  Branch.  Among  his  pupils  was  Ann  Rut- 
ledge,  and  the  school  was  often  visited  by  Lincoln.  In  1845 
Mentor  Graham  was  defendant  in  a  lawsuit  in  which  Lin 
coln  and  Herndon  were  attorneys  for  the  plaintiff,  Nancy 
Green.  It  appears  from  the  declaration,  written  by  Lin 
coln's  own  hand,  that  on  October  28,  1844,  Mentor  Graham 
gave  his  note  to  Nancy  Green  for  one  hundred  dollars,  with 
John  Owen  and  Andrew  Beerup  as  sureties,  payable  twelve 
months  afterdate.  The  note  not  being  paid  when  due,  suit 
was  brought.  That  Lincoln,  even  as  an  attorney,  should 
sue  Mentor  Graham  may  seem  strange  ;  but  it  is  no  surprise 
when  it  is  explained  that  the  plaintiff  was  the  widow  of 
Bowling  Green— the  woman  who,  with  her  husband,  had 
comforted  Lincoln  in  an  hour  of  grief.  Justice,  too,  in  this 
case  was  clearly  on  her  side.  The  lawsuit  seems  never  to 
have  disturbed  the  friendly  relations  between  Lincoln  and 
Mentor  Graham.  The  latter's  admiration  for  the  former 
was  unbounded  to  the  day  of  his  death.  Mentor  Graham 
lived  on  his  farm  near  the  ruins  of  New  Salem  until  1860, 
when  he  removed  to  Petersburg.  There  he  lived  until  1885, 
when  he  removed  to  Greenview,  Illinois.  Later  he  went  to 
South  Dakota,  where  he  died  about  1892,  at  the  ripe  old  age 
of  ninety -odd  years. 


LINCOLN  LIKED  FOR  HIS  COURAGE  AND  HONESTY.      123 


that  the  latter  finally  said, 
' '  Well,  if  you  must  be  whipped, 
I  suppose  I  might  as  well  whip 
you  as  any  other  man;"  and 
going  outdoors  with  the  fellow, 
he  threw  him  on  the  ground, 
and  rubbed  smart-weed  in  his 
eyes  until  he  bellowed  for 
mercy.  New  Salem' s  sense  of 
chivalry  was  touched,  and 
enthusiasm  over  Lincoln  in 
creased. 

His  honesty  excited  no  less 
admiration.  Two  incidents 
seem  to  have  particularly  im- 


A   NEW   SALEM   CHAIR. 


This  chair  is  now  in  the  collection  of  Mr.  Louis 
Vanuxem  of  Philadelphia.  It  was  originally  owned 
by  Caleb  Carmen  of  New  Salem,  and  was  once  re 
paired  by  Abraham  Lincoln. 


MODEL    OF    FIRST    PLOUGH    MADE    IN    MENARD 
COUNTY,  ILLINOIS. 

Reproduced  by  permission  from  "  Menard-Sa- 
lem-Lincoln  Souvenir  Album,"  Petersburg,  Illi 
nois,  1893. 

pressed  the  community.  Hav 
ing  discovered  on  one  occasion 
that  he  had  taken  six  and  a 
quarter  cents  too  much  from  a 
customer,  he  walked  three 
miles  that  evening,  after  his 
store  was  closed,  to  return  the 
money.  Again,  he  weighed 
out  a  half-pound  of  tea,  as  he 
supposed.  It  was  night,  and 
this  was  the  last  thing  he  did 
before  closing  up.  On  enter 
ing  in  the  morning  he  dis 
covered  a  four-ounce  weight  on 
the  scales.  He  saw  his  mis 
take,  and,  closing  up  shop, 
hurried  off  to  deliver  the  re 
mainder  of  the  tea.  This  un 
usual  regard  for  the  rights  of 
others  soon  won  him  the  title 
of  "  Honest  Abe." 


124  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 

LINCOLN   STUDIES   GRAMMAR. 

As  soon  as  the  store  was  fairly  under  way,  Lincoln  began  to 
look  about  for  books.  Since  leaving  Indiana,  in  March,  1830, 
he  had  had,  in  his  drifting  life,  little  leisure  or  opportunity  for 
study,  though  he  had  had  a  great  deal  for  observation.  Never 
theless  his  desire  to  learn  had  increased,  and  his  ambition  to  be 
somebody  had  been  encouraged.  In  that  time  he  had  found 
that  he  really  was  superior  to  many  of  those  who  were  called  the 
4  i  great ' '  men  of  the  country.  Soon  after  entering  Macon  County, 
in  March,  1830,  when  he  was  only  twenty-one  years  old,  he  had 
found  he  could  make  a  better  speech  than  at  least  one  man  who 
was  before  the  public.  A  candidate  had  come  along  where  John 
Hanks  and  he  were  at  work,  and,  as  John  Hanks  tells  the  story, 
the  man  made  a  speech.  "It  was  a  bad  one,  and  I  said  Abe 
could  beat  it.  I  turned  down  a  box,  and  Abe  made  his  speech. 
The  other  man  was  a  candidate,  Abe  wasn't.  Abe  beat  him  to 
death,  his  subject  being  the  navigation  of  the  Sangamon  River. 
The  man,  after  Abe' s  speech  was  through,  took  him  aside,  and 
asked  him  where  he  had  learned  so  much  and  how  he  could  do 
so  well.  Abe  replied,  stating  his  manner  and  method  of  reading, 
what  he  had  read.  The  man  encouraged  him  to  persevere." 

He  had  found  that  people  listened  to  him,  that  they  quoted 
his  opinions,  and  that  his  friends  were  already  saying  that  he 
was  able  to  fill  any  position.  Offutt.  even  declared  the  country 
over  that  "  Abe"  knew  more  than  any  man  in  the  United  States, 
and  that  some  day  he  would  be  President. 

Under  this  stimulus  Lincoln's  ambition  increased.  "I  have 
talked  with  great  men,"  he  told  his  fellow-clerk  and  friend 
Greene,  "and  I  do  not  see  how  they  differ  from  others."  He 
made  up  his  mind  to  put  himself  before  the  public,  and  talked 
of  his  plans  to  his  friends.  In  order  to  keep  in  practice  in  speak 
ing  he  walked  seven  or  eight  miles  to  debating  clubs.  "  Practis 
ing  polemics"  was  what  he  called  the  exercise.  He  seems  now 
for  the  first  time  to  have  begun  to  study  subjects.  Grammar 
was  what  he  chose.  He  sought  Mentor  Graham,  the  school 
master,  and  asked  his  advice.  "If  you  are  going  before  the 
public,"  Mr.  Graham  told  him,  "you  ought  to  do  it."  But 
where  could  he  get  a  grammar  ?  There  was  but  one,  said  Mr. 
Graham,  in  the  neighborhood,  and  that  was  six  miles  away. 
Without  waiting  for  further  information,  the  young  man  rose  from 


LINCOLN  MASTERS  GRAMMAR  AND  ENTERS  POLITICS.     125 

the  breakfast- table,  walked  immediately  to  the  place,  and  bor 
rowed  this  rare  copy  of  Kirkham's  Grammar.  From  that  time 
on  for  weeks  he  gave  his  leisure  to  mastering  its  contents.  Fre 
quently  he  asked  his  friend  Greene  to  hold  the  book  while  he 
recited,  and  when  puzzled  he  would  consult  Mr.  Graham. 

Lincoln's  eagerness  to  learn  was  such  that  the  whole  neigh 
borhood  became  interested.  The  Greenes  lent  him  books,  the 
school-master  kept  him  in  mind  and  helped  him  as  he  could,  and 
the  village  cooper  let  him  come  into  his  shop  and  keep  up  a  fire 
of  shavings  sufficiently  bright  to  read  by  at  night.  It  was  not 
long  before  the  grammar  was  mastered.  "Well,"  Lincoln  said 
to  his  fellow-clerk  Greene,  "if  that's  what  they  call  a  science,  I 
think  I'll  go  at  another." 

Before  the  winter  was  ended  he  had  become  the  most  popular 
man  in  New  Salem.  Although  he  was  but  twenty -two  years  of 
age  in  February,  1882  ;  had  never  been  at  school  an  entire  year ; 
had  never  made  a  speech,  except  in  debating  clubs  or  by  the 
roadside  ;  had  read  only  the  books  he  could  pick  up,  and  known 
only  the  men  of  the  poor,  out-of-the-way  towns  in  which  he  had 
lived,  yet,  ' '  encouraged  by  his  great  popularity  among  his  im 
mediate  neighbors,"  as  he  says,  he  announced  himself,  in  March, 
1832,  as  a  candidate  for  the  General  Assembly  of  the  State. 


CHAPTER   X. 

LINCOLN'S  FIRST  ANNOUNCEMENT  TO  THE  VOTERS  OF  SANGAMON 
COUNTY.— HIS  VIEWS  ON  THE  IMPROVEMENT  OF  THE  SANGAMON. 
—THE  MODESTY  OF  HIS  CIRCULAR. 

HE  only  preliminary  expected  of  a  candidate  for 
the  legislature  of  Illinois  at  that  date  was  an 
announcement  stating  his  "sentiments  with  re 
gard  to  local  affairs."  The  circular  in  which 
Lincoln  complied  with  this  custom  was  a  docu 
ment  of  about  two  thousand  words,  in  which  he 
plunged  at  once  into  the  subject  he  believed 
most  interesting  to  his  constituents — "the  pub 
lic  utility  of  internal  improvements." 

At   that  time  the  State   of  Illinois — as,    indeed,    the  whole 
United   States — was   convinced  that  the  future  of  the  country 


LINCOLN'S  FIRST  VOTE.— FHOTOGPAPHED  FROM  THE  ORIGINAL  POLL-BOOK.  A 

SEE  NOTE   ON   NEXT  PAGE. 


NI)  NOW  FIRST  PUBLISHED. 


LINCOLN'S  PLAN  FOR  IMPROVING   SANGAMON  RIVER.    127 

depended  on  the  opening  of  canals  and  railroads,  and  the  clear 
ing  out  of  the  rivers.  In  the  Sangamon  country  the  population 
felt  that  a  quick  way  of  getting  to  Beardstown  on  the  Illinois 
River,  to  which  point  the  steamer  came  from  the  Mississippi, 
was,  as  Lincoln  puts  it  in  his  circular,  using  a  phrase  of  his  hero 
Clay,  "  indispensably  necessary."  Of  course  a  railroad  was  the 
dream  of  the  settlers  ;  but  when  it  was  considered  seriously  there 
was  always,  as  Lincoln  says,  "a  heart-appalling  shock  accom 
panying  the  amount  of  its  cost,  which  forces  us  to  shrink  from 
our  pleasing  anticipations." 

' '  The  probable  cost  of  this  contemplated  railroad  is  estimated  at  two  hun 
dred  and  ninety  thousand  dollars;  the  bare  statement  of  which,  in  my  opinion, 
is  sufficient  to  justify  the  belief  that  the  improvement  of  the  Sangamon  Eiver 
is  an  object  much  better  suited  to  our  infant  resources. 

' '  Respecting  this  view,  I  think  I  may  say,  without  the  fear  of  being  con 
tradicted,  that  its  navigation  may  be  rendered  completely  practicable  as  high 
as  the  mouth  of  the  South  Fork,  or  probably  higher,  to  vessels  of  from  twenty- 
five  to  thirty  tons  burden,  for  at  least  one-half  of  all  common  years,  and  to 
vessels  of  much  greater  burden  a  part  of  the  time.  From  my  peculiar  circum 
stances,  it  is  probable  that  for  the  last  twelve  months  I  have  given  as  particular 
attention  to  the  stage  of  the  water  in  this  river  as  any  other  person  in  the  coun 
try.  In  the  month  of  March,  1831,  in  company  with  others,  I  commenced  the 
building  of  a  flatboat  on  the  Sangamon,  and  finished  and  took  her  out  in  the 
course  of  the  spring.  Since  that  time  I  have  been  concerned  in  the  mill  at  New 
Salem.  These  circumstances  are  sufficient  evidence  that  I  have  not  been  very 
inattentive  to  the  stages  of  the  water.  The  time  at  which  we  crossed  the  mill- 
dam  being  in  the  last  days  of  April,  the  water  was  lower  than  it  had  been  since 

Note :  LINCOLN'S  FIRST  VOTE. — The  original  poll-book  from  which  the  vote  as  shown  on  page  126  is  re 
produced,  is  now  on  file  in  the  County  Clerk's  office,  Springfield,  Illinois.  Lincoln's  first  vote  was  cast  at  New 
Salem,  "  in  the  Clary's  Grove  precinct,"  August  1, 1831.  At  this  election  he  aided  Mr.  Graham,  who  was  one 
of  the  clerks.  In  the  early  days  in  Illinois,  elections  were  conducted  by  the  viva  voce  method.  The  people 
did  try  voting  by  ballot,  but  the  experiment  was  unpopular.  It  required  too  much  "  book  larnin,"  and  in 
1829  the  viva  voce  method  of  voting  was  restored.  The  judges  and  clerks  sat  at  a  table  with  the  poll-book 
before  them.  The  voter  walked  up,  and  announced  the  candidate  of  his  choice,  and  it  was  recorded  in  his 
presence.  There  was  no  ticket  peddling,  and  ballot-box  stuffing  was  impossible.  To  this  simple  system 
we  are  indebted  for  the  record  of  Lincoln's  first  vote.  As  will  be  seen  from  the  fac-simile,  Lincoln  voted  for 
James  Turney  for  Congressman,  Bowling  Green  and  Edmund  Greer  for  Magistrates,  and  John  Armstrong 
and  Henry  Sinco  for  Constables.  Of  these  five  men  three  were  elected.  Turney  was  defeated  for  Congress 
man  by  Joseph  Duncan.  Turney  lived  in  Greene  County.  He  was  not  then  a  conspicuous  figure  in  the 
politics  of  the  State,  but  was  a  follower  of  Henry  Clay,  and  was  well  thought  of  in  his  own  district.  He 
and  Lincoln,  in  1834,  served  their  first  terms  together  in  the  lower  house  of  the  legislature,  and  later  he  was 
a  State  senator.  Joseph  Duncan,  the  successful  candidate,  was  already  in  Congress.  He  was  a  politician 
of  influence.  In  1834  he  was  a  strong  Jackson  man  ;  but  after  his  election  as  Governor  he  created  con 
sternation  among  the  followers  of  "  Old  Hickory  "  by  becoming  a  Whig.  Sidney  Breese,  who  received  only 
two  votes  in  the  Clary's  Grove  precinct,  afterward  became  the  most  conspicuous  of  the  five  candidates. 
Eleven  years  later  he  defeated  Stephen  A.  Douglas  for  the  United  States  Senate,  and  for  twenty-five  years  he 
was  on  the  bench  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  Illinois,  serving  under  each  of  the  three  constitutions.  For  the 
office  of  Magistrate,  Bowling  Green  was  elected,  but  Greer  was  beaten.  Both  of  Lincoln's  candidates  for 
Constable  were  elected.  John  Armstrong  was  the  man  with  whom,  a  short  time  afterward,  Lincoln  had 
the  celebrated  wrestling  match.  Henry  Sinco  was  the  keeper  of  a  store  at  New  Salem.  Lincoln's  first 
vote  for  President  was  not  cast  until  the  next  year  (November  5,  1832),  when  he  voted  for  Henry  Clay. 


128  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 

the  breaking  of  winter,  in  February,  or  than  it  was  for  several  weeks  after. 
The  principal  difficulties  we  encountered  in  descending  the  river  were  from  the 
drifted  timber,  which  obstructions  all  know  are  not  difficult  to  be  removed. 
Knowing  almost  precisely  the  height  of  water  at  that  time,  I  believe  I  am  safe 
in  saving  that  it  has  as  often  been  higher  as  lower  since. 

"From  this  view  of  the  subject,  it  appears  that  my  calculations  with 
regard  to  the  navigation  of  the  Sangamon  cannot  but  be  founded  in  reason  ; 
but,  whatever  may  be  its  natural  advantages,  certain  it  is  that  it  never  can  be 
practically  useful  to  any  great  extent  without  being  greatly  improved  by  art. 
The  drifted  timber,  as  I  have  before  mentioned,  is  the  most  formidable  barrier 
to  this  object.  Of  all  parts  of  this  river,  none  will  require  as  much  labor  in 
proportion  to  make  it  navigable  as  the  last  thirty  or  thirty-five  miles  ;  and 
going  with  the  meanderings  of  the  channel,  when  we  are  this  distance  above 
its  mouth,  we  are  only  between  twelve  and  eighteen  miles  from  Beardstown  in 
something  near  a  straight  direction,  and  this  route  is  upon  such  low  ground  as 
to  retain  water  in  many  places  during  the  season,  and  in  all  parts  such  as  to 
draw  two-thirds  or  three-fourths  of  the  river  water  at  all  high  stages. 

"  This  route  is  on  prairie-land  the  whole  distance,  so  that  it  appears  to  me, 
by  removing  the  turf  a  sufficient  width,  and  damming  up  the  old  channel,  the 
whole  river  in  a  short  time  would  wash  its  way  through,  thereby  curtailing  the 
distance  and  increasing  the  velocity  of  the  current  very  considerably,  while 
there  would  be  no  timber  on  the  banks  to  obstruct  its  navigation  in  future  ; 
and  being  nearly  straight,  the  timber  which  might  float  in  at  the  head  would 
be  apt  to  go  clear  through.  There  are  also  many  places  above  this  where  the 
river,  in  its  zigzag  course,  forms  such  complete  peninsulas  as  to  be  easier  to  cut 
at  the  necks  than  to  remove  the  obstructions  from  the  bends,  which,  if  doiie,^ 
would  also  lessen  the  distance. 

"  What  the  cost  of  this  work  would  be,  I  am  unable  to  say.  It  is  probable, 
however,  that  it  would  not  be  greater  than  is  common  to  streams  of  the  same 
length.  Finally,  I  believe  the  improvement  of  the  Sangamon  River  to  be 
vastly  important  and  highly  desirable  to  the  people  of  the  country  ;  and,  if 
elected,  any  measure  in  the  legislature  having  this  for  its  object,  which  may 
appear  judicious,  will  meet  my  approbation  and  receive  my  support." 

Lincoln  could  not  have  advocated  a  measure  more  popular. 
At  that  moment  the  whole  population  of  Sangamon  was  in  a 
state  of  wild  expectation.  Some  six  weeks  before  Lincoln's 
circular  appeared,  a  citizen  of  Springfield  had  advertised  that  as 
soon  as  the  ice  went  off  the  river  he  would  bring  up  a  steamer, 
the  "Talisman,"  from  Cincinnati,  and  prove  the  Sangamon 
navigable.  The  announcement  had  aroused  the  entire  country, 
speeches  were  made,  and  subscriptions  taken.  The  merchants 
announced  goods  direct  per  steamship  "Talisman"  the  country 
over,  and  every  village  from  Beardstown  to  Springfield  was  laid 
off  in  town  lots.  When  the  circular  appeared  the  excitement 
was  at  its  height. 


LINCOLN'S  EARLY  VIEWS  ON  USURY  AND  EDUCATION.  129 

Lincoln's  comments  in  his  circular  on  two  other  subjects  on 
which  all  candidates  of  the  day  expressed  themselves,  are  amus 
ing  in  their  simplicity.  The  practice  of  loaning  money  at  exor 
bitant  rates  was  then  a  great  evil  in  the  West.  Lincoln  proposed 
that  the  limits  of  usury  be  fixed,  and  he  closed  his  paragraph  on 
the  subject  with  these  words,  which  sound  strange  enough  from 
a  man  who  in  later  life  showed  so  profound  a  reverence  for  law : 

' '  In  cases  of  extreme  necessity,  there  could  always  be  means  found  to 
cheat  the  law  ;  while  in  all  other  cases  it  would  have  its  intended  effect.  I 
would  favor  the  passage  of  a  law  on  this  subject  which  might  not  be  very  easily 
evaded.  Let  it  be  such  that  the  labor  and  difficulty  of  evading  it  could  only  be 
justified  in  cases  of  greatest  necessity." 

A  general  revision  of  the  laws  of  the  State  was  the  second  topic 
which  he  felt  required  a  word.  "Considering  the  great  proba 
bility,"  he  said,  "  that  the  framers  of  those  laws  were  wiser  than 
myself,  I  should  prefer  not  meddling  with  them,  unless  they 
were  attacked  by  others ;  in  which  case  I  should  feel  it  both  a 
privilege  and  a  duty  to  take  that  stand  which,  in  my  view,  might 
tend  most  to  the  advancement  of  justice." 

Of  course  he  said  a  word  for  education : 

"Upon  the  subject  of  education,  not  presuming  to  dictate  any  plan  or 
system  respecting  it,  can  only  say  that  I  view  it  as  the  most  important  subject 
which  we  as  a  people  can  be  engaged  in.  That  every  man  may  receive  at  least 
a  moderate  education,  and  thereby  be  enabled  to  read  the  histories  of  his  own 
and  other  countries,  by  which  he  may  duly  appreciate  the  value  of  our  free 
institutions,  appears  to  be  an  object  of  vital  importance,  even  on  this  account 
alone  ;  to  say  nothing  of  the  advantages  and  satisfaction  to  be  derived  from 
all  being  able  to  read  the  Scriptures  and  other  works,  both  of  a  religious  and 
moral  nature,  for  themselves. 

' '  For  my  part,  I  desire  to  see  the  time  when  education — and  by  its  means 
morality,  sobriety,  enterprise,  and  industry — shall  become  much  more  general 
than  at  present,  and  should  be  gratified  to  have  it  in  my  powrer  to  contribute 
something  to  the  advancement  of  any  measure  which  might  have  a  tendency 
to  accelerate  that  happy  period." 

The  audacity  of  a  young  man  in  his  position  presenting  him 
self  as  a  candidate  for  the  legislature  is  fully  equalled  by  the 
humility  of  the  closing  paragraphs  of  his  announcement  : 

' '  But,  fellow-citizens,  I  shall  conclude.  Considering  the  great  degree  of 
modesty  which  should  always  attend  youth,  it  is  probable  I  have  already  been 
more  presuming  than  becomes  me.  However,  upon  the  subjects  of  which  I 
have  treated,  I  have  spoken  as  I  have  thought.  I  may  be  wrong  in  regard  to 
any  or  all  of  them  ;  but,  holding  it  a  sound  maxim  that  it  is  better  only  some- 
9 


From  an  ambrotype  in  the  possession  of  Mr.  Marcus  L.  Ward  of  Newark,  New  Jersey. 
This  portrait  of  Mr.  Lincoln  was  made  in  Springfield,  Illinois,  on  May  20, 1860,  for  the  late 
Hon.  Marcus  L.  Ward,  Governor  of  New  Jersey.  Mr.  Ward  had  gone  to  Springfield  to 
see  Mr.  Lincoln,  and  while  there  asked  him  for  his  picture.  The  President-elect  replied 
that  he  had  no  picture  which  was  satisfactory,  but  would  gladly  sit  for  one.  The  two 
gentlemen  went  out  immediately,  and  in  Mr.  Ward's  presence  Mr.  Lincoln  had  the  above 
picture  taken. 


LINCOLN'S  MODESTY  AS  A    CANDIDATE. 


131 


ABOVE   THE   DAM   AT   NEW   SALEM. 

Reproduced,  by  permission,  from  "  Menard-Salem-Lincoln  Souvenir  Album,"  Petersburg,  Illinois,  1893. 

times  to  be  right  than  at  all  times  to  be  wrong,  so  soon  as  I  discover  my  opin 
ions  to  be  erroneous,  I  shall  be  ready  to  renounce  them. 

' '  Every  man  is  said  to  have  his  peculiar  ambition.  Whether  it  be  true  or 
not,  I  can  say,  for  one,  th^at  I  have  no  other  so  great  as  that  of  being  truly 
esteemed  of  my  fellow-men  by  rendering  myself  worthy  of  their  esteem.  How 
far  I  shall  succeed  in  gratifying  this  ambition  is  yet  to  be  developed.  I  am 
young,  and  unknown  to  many  of  you.  I  was  born,  and  have  ever  remained, 
in  the  most  humble  walks  of  life.  I  have  no  wealthy  or  popular  relations  or 
friends  to  recommend  me.  My  case  is  thrown  exclusively  upon  the  indepen 
dent  voters  of  the  county  ;  and,  if  elected,  they  will  have  conferred  a  favor 
upon  me  for  which  I  shall  be  unremitting  in  my  labors  to  compensate.  But, 
if  the  good  people  in  their  wisdom  shall  see  fit  to  keep  me  in  the  background, 
I  have  been  too  familiar  with  disappointments  to  be  very  much  chagrined." 

Very  soon  after  Lincoln  had  distributed  his  handbills,  enthu 
siasm  on  the  subject  of  the  opening  of  the  Sangamon  rose  to  a 
fever.  The  "Talisman"  actually  came  up  the  river ;  scores  of 
men  went  to  Beardstown  to  meet  her,  among  them  Lincoln,  of 


132 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 


?•??* CS 

KXGLISH  GRAMMAR 


THE  KIRKHAM'S  QRAMMAR  USED  BY  LINCOLN  AT  NEW  SALEM.— NOW  FIRST  PUBLISHED. 

From  a  photograph  made  especially  for  this  work.  The  copy  of  Kirkham's  Grammar  studied  by 
Lincoln  belonged  to  a  man  named  Vaner.  Some  of  the  biographers  say  Lincoln  borrowed  it ;  but  it 
appears  that  he  became  the  owner  of  the  book,  either  by  purchase  or  through  the  generosity  of  Vaner, 
for  it  was  never  returned  to  the  latter.  It  is  said  that  Lincoln  learned  this  grammar  practically  by 
heart.  "  Sometimes,"  says  Herndon,  "  he  would  stretch  out  at  full  length  on  the  counter,  his  head 
propped  up  on  a  stack  of  calico  prints,  studying  it ;  or  he  would  steal  away  to  the  shade  of  some  inviting 
tree,  and  there  spend  hours  at  a  time  in  a  determined  effort  to  fix  in  his  mind  the  arbitrary  rule  that 
4  adverbs  qualify  verbs,  adjectives,  and  other  adverbs.1 "  He  presented  the  book  to  Ann  Rutledge,  and  it 
has  since  been  one  of  the  treasures  of  the  Rutledge  family.  After  the  death  of  Ann  it  was  studied  by  her 
brother  Robert,  and  is  now  owned  by  his  widow,  who  resides  at  Casselton,  North  Dakota.  The  title  page  of 
the  book  appears  above.  The  words,  "  Ann  M.  Rutledge  is  now  learning  grammar,"  were  written  by  Lin 
coln.  The  order  on  James  Rutledge  to  pay  David  P.  Nelson  thirty  dollars,  and  signed  "  A.  Lincoln  for  D. 
Offutt,"  which  is  shown  above,  was  pasted  upon  the  front  cover  of  the  book  by  Robert  Rutledge. 

course ;  and  to  him  was  given  the  honor  of  piloting  her — an  honor 
which  made  him  remembered  by  many  a  man  who  saw  him  that 
day  for  the  first  time.  The  trip  was  made  with  all  the  wild 


LINCOLN  PILOTS  A  STEAMBOAT  UP   THE  SANGAMON.    133 

demonstrations  which  always  attended  the  first  steamboat.  On 
either  bank  a  long  procession  of  men  and  boys  on  foot  or  horse 
accompanied  the  boat.  Cannons  and  volleys  of  musketry  were 
fired  as  settlements  were  passed.  At  every  stop  speeches  were 
made,  congratulations  offered,  toasts  drunk,  flowers  presented. 
It  was  one  long  hurrah  from  Beardstown  to  Springfield,  and 
foremost  in  the  jubilation  was  Lincoln  the  pilot.  The  "  Talis 
man  "  went  to  the  point  on  the  river  nearest  to  Springfield,  and 
there  tied  up  for  a  week.  When  she  went  back,  Lincoln  again 
had  a  conspicuous  position  as  pilot.  The  notoriety  this  gave 
him  was  probably  quite  as  valuable  politically  as  the  forty 
dollars  he  received  for  his  service  was  financially. 

While  the  country  had  been  dreaming  of  wealth  through  the 
opening  of  the  Sangamon,  and  Lincoln  had  been  doing  his  best 
to  prove  that  the  dream  was  possible,  the  store  in  which  he 
clerked  was  " petering  out"— to  use  his  own  expression.  The 
owner,  Denton  Offutt,  had  proved  more  ambitious  than  wise,  and 
Lincoln  saw  that  an  early  closing  by  the  sheriff  was  probable. 
But  before  the  store  was  fairly  closed,  and  while  the  trip  of  the 
" Talisman"  was  yet  exciting  the  country,  an  event  occurred 
which  interrupted  all  of  Lincoln's  plans. 


A  NEW  SALEM  CENTRE  TABLE. 

This  table  is  now  owned  by  W.  C.  Green  of  Talula, 
Illinois.  Originally  it  was  part  of  the  furniture  of  the 
cabin  of  Bowling  Green,  near  New  Salem. 


A  CLARY'S  GROVE  LOG  CABIN. — NOW  FIRST  PUBLISHED. 

From  a  water-color  by  Miss  Etta  Ackermann,  Springfield,  Illinois.  "  Clary's  Grove  "  was  the  name  of  a 
settlement  five  miles  southwest  of  New  Salem,  deriving  its  name  from  a  grove  on  the  land  of  the  Clarys. 
It  was  the  headquarters  of  a  daring  and  reckless  set  of  young  men  living  in  the  neighborhood  and  known 
as  the  "  Clary's  Grove  Boys."  This  cabin  was  the  residence  of  George  Davis,  one  of  the  "  Clary's  Grove 
Boys,"  and  grandfather  of  Miss  Ackermann.  It  was  built  in  1824,  seventy-one  years  ago,  and  is  the  only 
one  left  of  the  cluster  of  cabins  which  constituted  the  little  community. 


CHAPTEK   XL 

OUTBREAK  OF  SACS  AND  FOXES.  —  LINCOLN  VOLUNTEERS  AND  IS 
MADE  A  CAPTAIN.  —  INCIDENTS  OF  HIS  SERVICE  AS  CAPTAIN.  — 
STILLMAN'S  DEFEAT. 

NE  morning  in  April  a  messenger  from  the  gov 
ernor  of  the  State  rode  into  New  Salem,  scatter 
ing  circulars.  These  circulars  contained  an  ad 
dress  from  Governor  Reynolds  to  the  militia  of 
the  northwest  section  of  the  State,  announcing 
that  the  British  band  of  Sacs  and  other  hostile 
Indians,  headed  by  Black  Hawk,  had  invaded 
the  Rock  River  country,  to  the  great  terror  of 
the  frontier  inhabitants ;  and  calling  upon  the 

citizens  who  were  willing  to  aid  in  repelling  them,  to  rendezvous 

at  Beardstown  within  a  week. 


THE  INVASION  OF  BLACK  HAWK'S  LANDS.  135 


The  name  of  Black  Hawk 
was  familiar  to  the  people 
of  Illinois.  He  was  an  old 
enemy  of  the  settlers,  and 
had  been  a  tried  friend  of 
the  British.  The  land  his 
people  had  once  owned  in 
the  northwest  of  the  present 
State  of  Illinois  had  been 
sold  in  1804  to  the  govern 
ment  of  the  United  States, 
but  with  the  provision  that 
the  Indians  should  hunt 
and  raise  corn  there  until  it 
was  surveyed  and  sold  to 
settlers.  Long  before  the 
land  was  surveyed,  how 
ever,  squatters  had  invaded 
the  country,  and  tried  to 
force  the  Indians  west  of 
the  Mississippi.  Particu 
larly  envious  were  these 
whites  of  the  lands  at  the 
mouth  of  the  Rock  River, 
where  the  ancient  village 
and  burial  place  of  the  Sacs 
stood,  and  where  they  came  each  year  to  raise  corn.  Black 
Hawk  had  resisted  their  encroachments,  and  many  violent  acts 
had  been  committed  on  both  sides. 

Finally,  however,  the  squatters,  in  spite  of  the  fact  that  the 
line  of  settlement  was  still  fifty  miles  away,  succeeded  in  evad 
ing  the  real  meaning  of  the  treaty  and  in  securing  a  survey  of 
the  desired  land  at  the  mouth  of  the  river.  Black  Hawk,  exas 
perated  and  broken-hearted  at  seeing  his  village  violated,  per 
suaded  himself  that  the  village  had  never  been  sold — indeed, 
that  land  could  not  be  sold. 

"My  reason  teaches  me,"  he  wrote,  "that  land  cannot  be  sold.  The  Great 
Spirit  gave  it  to  his  children  to  live  upon,  and  cultivate,  as  far  as  is  necessary 
for  their  subsistence ;  and  so  long  as  they  occupy  and  cultivate  it  they  have  the 
right  to  the  soil,  but  if  they  voluntarily  leave  it,  then  any  other  people  have 
a  right  to  settle  upon  it.  Nothing  can  be  sold  but  such  things  as  can  be  carried 
away." 


NANCY  GREEN. 

Nancy  Green  was  the  wife  of  "Squire"  Bowling 
Green.  Her  maiden  name  was  Nancy  Potter.  She  was 
born  in  North  Carolina  in  1797,  and  married  Bowling 
Green  in  1818.  She  removed  with  him  to  New  Salem  in 
1820,  and  lived  in  that  vicinity  until  her  death,  in  1864, 
Lincoln  was  a  constant  visitor  in  Nancy  Green's  home. 


136 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 


Supported  by  this  theory, 
conscious  that  iu  some  way  he 
did  not  understand  he  had  been 
wronged,  and  urged  on  by 
White  Cloud,  the  prophet,  who 
ruled  a  Winnebago  village  on 
the  Rock  River,  Black  Hawk 
crossed  the  Mississippi  in  1831, 
determined  to  evict  the  settlers. 
A  military  demonstration  drove 
him  back,  and  he  was  persuaded 
to  sign  a  treaty  never  to  return 
east  of  the  Mississippi.  "I 
touched  the  goose-quill  to  the 
treaty  and  was  determined  to 
live  in  peace,"  he  wrote  after 
ward  ;  but  hardly  had  he 
u  touched  the  goose-quill"  be 
fore  his  heart  smote  him. 
Longing  for  his  home,  resent 
ment  at  the  whites,  obstinacy, 
brooding  over  the  bad  counsels 

of  White  Cloud  and  his  disciple  Neapope — an  agitating  Indian 
who  had  recently  been  East  to  visit  the  British  and  their  Indian 
allies,  and  who  assured  Black  Hawk  that  the  Winnebagoes, 
Ottawas,  Chippewas,  and  Pottawottomies  would  join  him  in  a 
struggle  for  his  land,  and  that  the  British  would  send  him 
"  guns,  ammunition,  provisions,  and  clothing  early  in  the  spring" 
— all  persuaded  the  Hawk  that  he  would  be  successful  if  he  made 
an  effort  to  drive  out  the  whites.  In  spite  of  the  advice  of  many 
of  his  friends  and  of  the  Indian  agent  in  the  country,  he  crossed 
the  river  on  April  6,  1832,  and  with  some  five  hundred  braves, 
his  squaws  and  children,  marched  to  the  Prophet's  town,  thirty- 
five  miles  up  the  Rock  River. 

As  soon  as  they  heard  of  Black  Hawk's  invasion,  the  settlers 
of  the  northwestern  part  of  the  State  fled  in  a  panic  to  the  forts  ; 
and  they  rained  petitions  for  protection  on  Governor  Reynolds. 
General  Atkinson,  who  was  at  Fort  Armstrong,  wrote  to  the  gov 
ernor  for  reinforcements  ;  and,  accordingly,  on  the  16th  of  April 
Governor  Reynolds  sent  out  " influential  messengers"  with 
a  sonorous  summons.  It  was  one  of  these  messengers  riding 


JOHN  A.   CLARY. 

John  A.  Clary  was  one  of  the  "  Clary's  Grove 
Boys.11  He  was  the  son  of  John  Clary,  the  head  of 
the  numerous  Clary  family  which  settled  in  the 
vicinity  of  New  Salem  in  1881.  He  was  born  in 
Tennessee  in  1815  and  died  in  1880.  He  was  an 
intimate  associate  of  Lincoln  during  the  latter's 
New  Salem  days. 


HOW  LINCOLN  WAS  ELECTED  CAPTAIN 


137 


into  New  Salem  who  put  an  end  to  Lincoln's  canvassing  for  the 
legislature,  freed  him  from  Offutt's  expiring  grocery,  and  led 
him  to  enlist. 

There  was  no  time  to  waste.  The  volunteers  were  ordered  to 
be  at  Beardstown,  nearly  forty  miles  from  New  Salem,  on  April 
22d.  Horses,  rifles,  saddles,  blankets  were  to  be  secured,  a  com 
pany  formed.  It  was  work  of  which  the  settlers  were  not  igno 
rant.  Under  the  laws  of  the  State  every  able-bodied  male  inhab 
itant  between  eighteen  and  forty-five  was  obliged  to  drill  twice  a 
year  or  pay  a  fine  of  one  dollar.  "As  a  dollar  was  hard  to 
raise,"  says  one  of  the  old  settlers,  "  everybody  drilled." 


LINCOLN  A   CAPTAIN. 

Preparations  were  quickly  made,  and  by  April  22d  the  men 
were  at  Beardstown. 
The  day  before,  at  Rich- 
land,  Sangamon  County, 
Lincoln  had  been  elected 
to  the  captaincy  of  the 
company  from  Sanga 
mon  to  which  he  be 
longed. 

His  friend  Greene 
gave  another  reason 
than  ambition  to  ex 
plain  his  desire  for  the 
captaincy.  One  of  the 
"  odd  jobs  "  which  Lin 
coln  had  taken  since 
coming  into  Illinois  was 
working  in  a  saw-mill 
for  a  man  named  Kirk- 
pa  trick.  In  hiring  Lin 
coln,  Kirkpatrick  had 
promised  to  buy  him  a 
cant-hook  with  which  to 
move  heavy  logs.  Lin 
coln  had  proposed,  if 
Kirkpatrick  would  give 
him  the  two  dollars 


DUTCH  OVEN. 

From  a  photograph  made  for  this  work.  Owned  by  Mrs.  Ott 
of  Petersburg,  Illinois.  "  A  kind  of  flat-bottomed  pot,  .  .  . 
which  stood  upon  three  legs  of  three  inches  long,  and  had  an 
iron  lid.  Into  this  bread  or  meats  were  put,  and  baked  by 
placing  it  on  the  hearth  with  a  quantity  of  coals  under  it  and 
upon  the  lid,  which  was  made  with  a  rim  to  keep  the  coals  upon 
it,  and  a  loop  handle  to  lift  it  by.  It  also  had  a  bail  like  a  pot, 
by  which  it  could  be  hung  over  the  fixe."— Recollections  of  Life 
in  Ohio,  by  WILLIAM  COOPER  HOWELLS. 


138  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 

which  the  cant-hook  would  cost,  to  move  the  logs  with  a  common 
hand-spike.  This  the  proprietor  had  agreed  to,  but  when  pay 
day  came  he  refused  to  keep  his  word.  When  the  Sangamon 
company  of  volunteers  was  formed,  Kirkpatrick  aspired  to  the 
captaincy,  and  Lincoln,  knowing  it,  said  to  Greene:  "  Bill,  I 
believe  I  can  now  make  Kirkpatrick  pay  that  two  dollars  he 
owes  me  on  the  cant-hook.  I'll  run  against  him  for  captain  ;" 
and  he  became  a  candidate.  The  vote  was  taken  in  a  field,  by 
directing  the  men  at  the  command  "  march  "  to  assemble  around 
the  one  they  wanted  for  captain.  When  the  order  was  given, 
three-fourths  of  the  men  gathered  around  Lincoln.*  In  Lin 
coln's  curious  third-person  autobiography  he  says  he  was  elected, 
"  to  his  own  surprise;"  and  adds,  kiHe  says  he  has  not  since 
had  any  success  in  life  which  gave  him  so  much  satisfaction." 

The  company  was  a  motley  crowd  of  men.  Each  had  secured 
for  his  outfit  what  he  could  get,  and  no  two  were  equipped  alike. 
Buckskin  breeches  prevailed,  and  there  was  a  sprinkling  of  coon- 
skin  caps.  Each  man  had  a  blanket  of  the  coarsest  texture.  Flint 
lock  rifles  were  the  usual  arms,  though  here  and  there  a  man  had 
a  Cramer.  Over  the  shoulder  of  each  was  slung  a  powder-horn. 
The  men  had,  as  a  rule,  as  little  regard  for  discipline  as  for  ap 
pearances,  and  when  the  new  captain  gave  an  order  were  as  likely 
to  jeer  at  it  as  to  obey  it.  To  drive  the  Indians  out  was  their 
mission,  and  any  orders  which  did  not  bear  directly  on  that 
point  were  little  respected.  Lincoln  himself  was  not  familiar 
with  military  tactics,  and  made  many  blunders,  of  which  he  used 
to  tell  afterwards  with  relish.  One  of  his  early  experiences  in 
handling  his  company  is  particularly  amusing.  He  was  march 
ing  with  a  front  of  over  twenty  men  across  a  field,  when  he 
desired  to  pass  through  a  gateway  into  the  next  inclosure. 

"I  could  not  for  the  life  of  me,"  said  he,  " remember  the 
proper  word  of  command  for  getting  my  company  endwise,  so 
that  it  could  get  through  the  gate  ;  so,  as  we  came  near  the  gate, 
I  shouted,  '  This  company  is  dismissed  for  two  minutes,  when  it 
will  fall  in  again  on  the  other  side  of  the  gate  ! '  " 

Nor  was  it  only  his  ignorance  of  the  manual  which  caused 
him  trouble.  He  was  so  unfamiliar  with  camp  discipline  that  he 
once  had  his  sword  taken  from  him  for  shooting  within  limits. 

*  This  story  of  Kirkpatrick's  unfair  treatment  of  Lincoln  we  owe  to  the  courtesy 
of  Colonel  Clark  E.  Carr  of  Galesburg,  Illinois,  to  whom  it  was  told  several  times 
by  Greene  himself. 


LINCOLN'S  DISORDERLY  COMPANY. 


139 


VIEW  OF  THE  SANGAMON    RIVER  NEAR  NEW  SALEM. 

The  town  lay  along  the  ridge  marked  by  the  star. 

Another  disgrace  he  suffered  was  on  account  of  his  disorderly 
company.  The  men,  unknown  to  him,  stole  a  quantity  of  liquor 
one  night,  and  the  next  morning  were  too  drunk  to  fall  in  when 
the  order  was  given  to  march.  For  their  lawlessness  Lincoln 
wore  a  wooden  sword  two  days. 

But  none  of  these  small  difficulties  injured  his  standing  with 
the  company.  Lincoln  was  tactful,  and  he  joined  his  men  in 
sports  as  well  as  duties.  They  soon  grew  so  proud  of  his  quick 
wit  and  great  strength  that  they  obeyed  him  because  they  ad- 


140 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 


SITE   OF   DENTON   OFFUTT'g   STOKE. 

From  a  photograph  taken  for  this  work.  The  building  in  which  Lincoln  clerked  for 
Denton  Offutt  was  standing  as  late  as  1836,  and  presumably  stood  until  it  rotted  down.  A  slight 
depression  in  the  earth,  evidently  once  a  cellar,  is  all  that  remains  of  Offutfs  store.  Out  of  this 
hole  in  the  ground  have  grown  three  trees,  a  locust,  an  elm,  and  a  sycamore,  seeming  to  spring 
from  the  same  roots,  and  curiously  twined  together.  High  up  on  the  sycamore  some  genius 
has  chiselled  the  face  of  Lincoln. 


mired  him.  No  amount  of  military  tactics  could  have  secured 
from  the  volunteers  the  cheerful  following  he  won  by  his  per 
sonal  qualities. 


BLACK  HAWK'S  DEFEAT  OF  STILLMAN'S  COMMAND,     141 


The  men  soon 
learned,  too,  that 
he  meant  what  he 
said,  and  would 
permit  no  dishon 
orable  actions.  A 
helpless  Indian 
took  refuge  in  the 
camp  one  day ; 
and  the  men,  who 
were  inspired  by 
what  Governor 
Reynolds  calls 
Indian  ill-will— 
that  wanton  mix 
ture  of  selfishness, 
unreason,  and 
cruelty  which 
seems  to  seize  a 
frontiersman  as 
soon  as  he  scents 
a  red  man — were 
determined  to  kill 
the  refugee.  He 
had  a  safe  conduct 
from  General  Cass; 
but  the  men,  hav 
ing  come  out  to 
kill  Indians  and 
not  having  suc 
ceeded,  threatened 

to  take  revenge  on  the  helpless  savage.  Lincoln  boldly  took  the 
man's  part,  and,  though  he  risked  his  life  in  doing  it,  he  cowed 
the  company  and  saved  the  Indian. 

It  was  on  the  27th  of  April  that  the  force  of  sixteen  hundred 
men  organized  at  Beardstown  started  out.  The  spring  was  cold, 
the  roads  heavy,  the  streams  turbulent.  The  army  marched 
first  to  Yellow  Banks  on  the  Mississippi ;  then  to  Dixon  on  the 
Rock  River,  which  they  reached  on  May  12th.  At  Dixon  they 
camped,  and  near  here  occurred  the  first  bloodshed  of  the  war. 

A  body  of  about  three  hundred  and  forty  rangers  under 


JOHN   POTTEK,    NEIGHBOR   OF   LINCOLN  S   AT   NEW   SALEM. 

From  a  recent  photograph.  John  Potter,  born  November  10,  1808, 
was  a  few  months  older  than  Lincoln.  He  is  now  living  at  Petersburg, 
Illinois.  He  settled  in  the  country  one  and  one-half  miles  from  New 
Salem  in  1820.  Mr.  Potter  remembers  Lincoln's  first  appearance  in  New 
Salem,  in  July,  1831.  He  corroborates  the  stories  told  of  his  store,  of 
his  popularity  in  the  community,  and  of  the  general  impression  that  he 
was  an  unusually  promising  young  man. 


142  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 

Major  Stillman,  but  not  of  the  regular  army,  asked  to  go  ahead 
as  scouts,  to  look  for  a  body  of  Indians  under  Black  Hawk, 
rumored  to  be  about  twelve  miles  away.  The  permission  was 
given,  and  on  the  night  of  the  14th  of  May,  Stillman  and  his  men 
went  into  camp.  Black  Hawk  heard  of  their  presence.  By  this 
time  the  poor  old  chief  had  discovered  that  the  promises  of  aid 
from  the  Indian  tribes  and  the  British  were  false,  and,  dismayed, 
he  had  resolved  to  recross  the  Mississippi.  When  he  heard  of 
the  whites  near,  he  sent  three  braves  with  a  white  flag  to  ask 
for  a  parley  and  permission  to  descend  the  river.  Behind  them 
he  sent  five  men  to  watch  proceedings.  Stillman' s  rangers  were 
in  camp  when  the  bearers  of  the  flag  of  truce  appeared.  The 
men  were  many  of  them  half  drunk,  and  when  they  saw  the 
Indian  truce-bearers,  they  rushed  out  in  a  wild  mob,  and  ran 
them  into  camp.  Then  catching  sight  of  the  five  spies,  they 
started  after  them,  killing  two.  The  three  who  reached  Black 
Hawk  reported  that  the  trace-bearers  had  been  killed,  as  well  as 
their  two  companions.  Furious  at  this  violation  of  faith,  Black 
Hawk  raised  a  yell,  and  sallied  forth  with  forty  braves  to  meet 
Stillman' s  band,  who  by  this  time  were  out  in  search  of  the 
Indians.  Black  Hawk,  too  maddened  to  think  of  the  difference 
of  numbers,  attacked  the  whites.  To  his  surprise  the  enemy 
turned,  and  fled  in  a  wild  riot.  Nor  did  they  stop  at  their  camp, 
which  from  its  position  was  almost  impregnable ;  they  fled  in 
complete  panic,  sauve  qui  pent,  through  their  camp,  across 
prairie  and  rivers  and  swamps,  to  Dixon,  twelve  miles  away. 
The  first  arrival  reported  that  two  thousand  savages  had  swept 
down  on  Stillman' s  camp  and  slaughtered  all  but  himself. 
Before  the  next  night  all  but  eleven  of  the  band  had  arrived. 

Stillman' s  defeat,  as  this  disgraceful  affair  is  called,  put  all 
notion  of  peace  out  of  Black  Hawk' s  mind,  and  he  started  out  in 
earnest  on  the  warpath.  By  the  morning  of  the  15th,  Governor 
Keynolds  and  his  army  were  in  pursuit  of  Black  Hawk.  But 
it  was  like  pursuing  a  shadow.  The  Indians  purposely  C3nfused 
their  trail.  Sometimes  it  was  a  broad  path,  then  it  suddenly 
radiated  to  all  points.  The  whites  broke  their  bands,  and  pur 
sued  the  savages  here  and  there,  never  overtaking  them,  though 
now  and  then  coming  suddenly  on  some  terrible  evidences  of 
their  presence— a  frontier  home  deserted  and  burned,  slaugh 
tered  cattle,  scalps  suspended  where  the  army  could  not  fail  to 
see  them. 


ZACHARY  TAYLORS   WAY   WITH  INSUBORDINATES.      143 


A 


BOWLING  GREEN'S  HOUSE. 

From  a  photograph  made  for  this  work .  Bowling  Green's  log  cabin,  half  a  mile  north  of  New 
Salem,  just  under  the  bluff,  still  stands,  but  long  since  ceased  to  be  a  dwelling-house,  and  is  now  a 
tumble-down  old  stable.  Here  Lincoln  was  a  frequent  boarder,  especially  during  the  period  of  his 
closest  application  to  the  study  of  the  law.  Stretched  out  on  the  cellar  door  of  this  cabin,  reading 
a  book,  he  met  for  the  first  time  "  Dick  "  Yates,  then  a  college  student  at  Jacksonville,  and  destined 
to  become  the  great  "  War  Governor "  of  the  State.  Yates  had  come  home  with  William  G. 
Greene  to  spend  his  vacation,  and  Greene  took  him  around  to  Bowling  Green's  house  to  introduce 
him  to  "  his  friend,  Abe  Lincoln."  Unhappily  there  is  nowhere  in  existence  a  picture  of  the  original 
occupant  of  this  humble  cabin.  Bowling  Green  was  one  of  the  leading  citizens  of  the  county.  He 
was  County  Commissioner  from  1826  to  1828  ;  he  was  for  many  years  a  justice  of  the  peace  ;  he  was  a 
prominent  member  of  the  Masonic  fraternity,  and  a  very  active  and  uncompromising  Whig.  The 
friendship  between  him  and  Lincoln,  beginning  at  a  very  early  day,  continued  until  his  death,  in  1842. 

This  fruitless  warfare  exasperated  the  volunteers ;  they 
threatened  to  leave,  and  their  officers  had  great  difficulty  in 
making  them  obey  orders.  On  reaching  a  point  on  the  Rock 
River,  beyond  which  lay  the  Indian  country,  the  men  under  Colo 
nel  Zachary  Taylor  refused  to  cross,  urging  that  they  had  vol 
unteered  only  to  defend  the  State,  and  had  the  right  to  refuse  to 
go  out  of  its  borders.  Taylor  heard  them  to  the  end,  and  then 
said  :  "I  feel  that  all  gentlemen  here  are  my  equals  ;  in  reality, 
I  am  persuaded  that  many  of  them  will,  in  a  few  years,  be  my 
superiors,  and  perhaps,  in  the  capacity  of  members  of  Congress, 
arbiters  of  the  fortunes  and  reputation  of  humble  servants  of 
the  Republic,  like  myself.  I  expect  then  to  obey  them  as  inter 
preters  of  the  will  of  the  people  ;  and  the  best  proof  that  I  will 
obey  them  is  now  to  observe  the  orders  of  those  whom  the  people 
have  already  put  in  the  place  of  authority  to  which  many  gen 
tlemen  around  me  justly  aspire.  In  plain  English,  gentlemen 
and  fellow-citizens,  the  word  has  been  passed  on  to  me  from 


144  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 

Washington  to  follow  Black  Hawk  and  to  take  you  with  me  as 
soldiers.  I  mean  to  do  both.  There  are  the  flatboats  drawn 
up  on  the  shore,  and  here  are  Uncle  Sam's  men  drawn  up  behind 
you  on  the  prairie."  The  volunteers  knew  true  grit  when  they 
met  it.  They  dissolved  their  meeting  and  crossed  the  river  with 
out  Uncle  Sam's  men  being  called  into  action. 


CHAPTER  XII. 

LINCOLN  AN  INDEPENDENT  RANGER.— MAJOR  ILES'S  REMINISCENCES 
OF  THE  CAMPAIGN.— END  OF  THE  BLACK  HAWK  WAR. 

HE  march  in  pursuit  of  the  Indians  led  the  army 
to  Ottawa,  where  the  volunteers  became  so  dis 
satisfied  that  on  May  27th  and  28th  Governor 
Reynolds  mustered  them  out.  But  a  force  in 
the  field  was  essential  until  a  new  levy  was  raised, 
and  a  few  of  the  men  were  patriotic  enough  to 
offer  their  services,  among  them  Lincoln,  who, 
on  May  29th,  was  mustered  in,  at  the  mouth  of 
the  Fox  River,  by  a  man  in  whom,  thirty  years 
later,  he  was  to  have  a  keen  interest — General  Robert  Anderson, 
commander  at  Fort  Sumter  in  1861.  Lincoln  became  a  private  in 
Captain  Elijah  lies' s  company  of  Independent  Rangers,  not 
brigaded — a  company  made  up,  says  Captain  lies  in  his  "  Foot 
steps  and  Wanderings,"  of  " generals,  colonels,  captains,  and 
distinguished  men  from  the  disbanded  army."  General  Ander 
son  says  that  at  this  muster  Lincoln's  arms  were  valued  at  forty 
dollars,  his  horse  and  equipment  at  one  hundred  and  twenty 
dollars.  The  Independent  Rangers  were  a  favored  body,  used  to 
carry  messages  and  to  spy  on  the  enemy.  They  had  no  camp 
duties,  and  "  drew  rations  as  often  as  they  pleased  ;  "  so  that  as 
a  private  Lincoln  was  really  better  off  than  as  a  captain.* 

*  William  Cullen  Bryant,  who  was  in  Illinois  in  1832,  at  the  time  of  the  Black  Hawk 
War,  used  to  tell  of  meeting  in  his  travels  in  the  State  a  company  of  Illinois  volunteers, 
commanded  by  a  "  raw  youth  "  of  "  quaint  and  pleasant "  speech,  who,  he  learned  after 
wards,  was  Abraham  Lincoln.  As  Lincoln's  captaincy  ended  on  May  27th,  and  Mr. 
Bryant  did  not  reach  Illinois  until  June  12th,  and  as  he  never  came  nearer  than  fifty 
miles  to  the  Rapids  of  the  Illinois,  where  the  body  of  rangers  to  which  Lincoln  be 
longed  was  encamped,  it  is  evident  that  the  "  raw  youth  ?'  could  not  have  been  Lincoln, 
much  as  one  would  like  to  believe  that  it  was. 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN.— HITHERTO  UNPUBLISHED. 

From  a  photograph  in  the  collection  of  T.  H.  Bartlett,  the  sculptor,  of  Boston,  Massachusetts.  Mr. 
Bartlett  regards  this  as  his  earliest  portrait  of  Mr.  Lincoln,  but  does  not  know  when  or  where  it  was  taken. 
This  portrait  is  also  in  the  Oldroyd  collection  at  Washington,  D.  C.,  where  it  is  dated  1856.  The  collection 
of  Lincoln  portraits  owned  by  Mr.  Bartlett  is  the  most  complete  and  the  most  intelligently  arranged  which 
we  have  examined.  Mr.  Bartlett  began  collecting  fully  twenty  years  ago,  his  aim  being  to  secure  data  for 
a  study  of  Mr.  Lincoln  from  a  physiognomical  point  of  view.  He  has  probably  the  earliest  portrait  which 
exists,  the  one  here  given,  excepting  the  early  daguerreotype  owned  by  Mr.  Robert  Lincoln.  He  has  a 
large  number  of  the  Illinois  pictures  made  from  1858  to  1860,  such  as  the  Gilmer  picture  (page  209);  a  large 
collection  of  Brady  photographs,  the  masks,  Volk's  bust,  and  other  interesting  portraits.  These  he  has 
studied  from  a  sculptor's  point  of  view,  comparing  them  carefully  with  the  portraiture  of  other  men,  as 
Webster  and  Emerson.  Mr.  Bartlett  has  embodied  his  study  of  Mr.  Lincoln  in  an  illustrated  lecture, 
which  is  a  model  of  what  such  a  lecture  should  be,  suggestive,  human,  delightful.  All  his  fine  collection 
of  Lincoln  portraits  Mr.  Bartlett  has  put  freely  at  our  disposal,  an  act  of  courtesy  and  generosity  for  which 
the  readers  of  this  work,  as  well  as  the  authors,  cannot  fail  to  be  deeply  grateful. 


10 


•  -**&•      .wy,     .    - 


A  NEAR   VIEW  OF  THE  BLACK  HAWK  WAR.  147 

The  achievements  and  tribulations  of  the  body  of  rangers  to 
which  he  belonged  are  told  with  interesting  detail  by  Major 
lies. 

"  While  the  other  companies  were  ordered  to  scout  the  coun 
try,"  says  Major  lies,  "mine  was  held  by  General  Atkinson  in 
camp  as  a  reserve.  One  company  was  ordered  to  go  to  Rock 
River  (now  Dixon)  and  report  to  Colonel  Taylor  (afterwards 
President),  who  had  been  left  there  with  a  few  United  States 
soldiers  to  guard  the  army  supplies.  The  place  was  also  made 
a  point  of  rendezvous.  Just  as  the  company  got  to  Dixon,  a 
man  came  in,  and  reported  that  he  and  six  others  were  on  the 
road  to  Galena,  and,  in  passing  through  a  point  of  timber  about 
twenty  miles  north  of  Dixon,  they  were  fired  on  and  six  killed,  he 
being  the  only  one  to  make  his  escape.  .  .  .  Colonel  Taylor 
ordered  the  company  to  proceed  to  the  place,  bury  the  dead,  go 
on  to  Galena,  and  get  all  the  information  they  could  about  the 
Indians.  But  the  company  took  fright,  and  came  back  to  the 
Illinois  River,  helter-skelter. 

"  General  Atkinson  then  called  on  me,  and  wanted  to  know 
how  I  felt  about  taking  the  trip  ;  that  he  was  exceedingly  anxious 
to  open  communication  with  Galena,  and  to  find  out,  if  possible, 
the  whereabouts  of  the  Indians  before  the  new  troops  arrived.  I 
answered  the  general  that  myself  and  men  were  getting  rusty, 
and  were  anxious  to  have  something  to  do,  and  that  nothing 
would  please  us  better  than  to  be  ordered  out  on  an  expedition  ; 
that  I  would  find  out  how  many  of  my  men  had  good  horses  and 
were  otherwise  well  equipped,  and  what  time  we  wanted  to  pre 
pare  for  the  trip.  I  called  on  him  again  at  sunset,  and  reported 
that  I  had  about  fifty  men  well  equipped  and  eager,  and  that  we 
wanted  one  day  to  make  preparations.  He  said  go  ahead,  and  he 
would  prepare  our  orders. 

"The  next  day  was  a  busy  one,  running  bullets  and  getting 
our  flint-locks  in  order — we  had  no  percussion  locks  then. 
General  Henry,  one  of  my  privates,  who  had  been  promoted  to 
the  position  of  major  of  one  of  the  companies,  volunteered  to  go 
with  us.  I  considered  him  a  host,  as  he  had  served  as  lieu 
tenant  in  the  war  of  1812,  under  General  Scott,  and  was  in  the 
battle  of  Lundy's  Lane,  and  several  other  battles.  He  was 
a  good  drill  officer,  and  could  aid  me  much.  .  .  .  After 
General  Atkinson  handed  me  my  orders,  and  my  men  were 
mounted  and  ready  for  the  trip,  I  felt  proud  of  them,  and  was 


148  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 

confident  of  our  success,  although  numbering  only  forty-eight. 
Several  good  men  failed  to  go,  as  they  had  gone  down  to  the  foot 
of  the  Illinois  Rapids,  to  aid  in  bringing  up  the  boats  of  army 
supplies.  We  wanted  to  be  as  little  encumbered  as  possible,  and 
took  nothing  that  could  be  dispensed  with,  other  than  blankets, 
tin  cups,  coffee-pots,  canteens,  a  wallet  of  bread,  and  some  fat 
side  meat,  which  we  ate  raw  or  broiled. 

"  When  we  arrived  at  Eock  River,  we  found  Colonel  Taylor 
on  the  opposite  side,  in  a  little  fort  built  of  prairie  sod.  He  sent 
an  officer  in  a  canoe  to  bring  me  over.  I  said  to  the  officer  that  I 
would  come  over  as  soon  as  I  got  my  men  in  camp.  I  knew  of  a 
good  spring  half  a  mile  above,  and  I  determined  to  camp  at  it. 
After  the  men  were  in  camp  I  called  on  General  Henry,  and  he 
accompanied  me.  On  meeting  Colonel  Taylor  (he  looked  like  a 
man  born  to  command)  he  seemed  a  little  piqued  that  I  did  not 
come  over  and  camp  with  him.  I  told  him  we  felt  just  as  safe  as 
if  quartered  in  his  one-horse  fort ;  besides,  I  knew  what  his 
orders  would  be,  and  wanted  to  try  the  mettle  of  my  men  before 
starting  on  the  perilous  trip  I  knew  he  would  order.  He  said 
the  trip  was  perilous,  and  that  since  the  murder  of  the  six  men 
all  communication  with  Galena  had  been  cut  off,  and  it  might  be 
besieged  ;  that  he  wanted  me  to  proceed  to  Galena,  and  that  he 
would  have  my  orders  for  me  in  the  morning,  and  asked  what 
outfit  I  wanted.  I  answered,  i  Nothing  but  coffee,  side  meat,  and 
bread.' 

"  In  the  morning  my  orders  were  to  collect  and  bury  the  re 
mains  of  the  six  men  murdered,  proceed  to  Galena,  make  a  care 
ful  search  for  the  signs  of  Indians,  and  find  out  whether  they  were 
aiming  to  escape  by  crossing  the  river  below  Galena,  and  get  all 
information  at  Galena  of  their  possible  whereabouts  before  the 
new  troops  were  ready  to  follow  them. 

"  John  Dixon,  who  kept  a  house  of  entertainment  here,  and 
had  sent  his  family  to  Galena  for  safety,  joined  us,  and  hauled 
our  wallets  of  corn  and  grub  in  his  wagon,  which  was  a  great 
help.  Lieutenant  Harris,  U.S.A.,  also  joined  us.  I  now  had 
fifty  men  to  go  with  me  on  the  march.  I  detailed  two  to  march 
on  the  right,  two  on  the  left,  and  two  in  advance,  to  act  as  look 
outs  to  prevent  a  surprise.  They  were  to  keep  in  full  view  of  us, 
and  to  remain  out  until  we  camped  for  the  night.  Just  at  sun 
down  of  the  first  day,  while  we  were  at  lunch,  our  advance 
scouts  came  in  under  whip  and  reported  Indians.  We  bounced 


THE   BLACK    HAWK. 

From  a  photograph  made  for  this  work.  After  a  portrait  by  George  Catlin,  in  the  National 
Museum  at  Washington,  D.  C.,  and  here  reproduced  by  the  courtesy  of  the  director,  Mr.  G. 
Brown  Goode.  Makataimeshekiakiak,  the  Black  Hawk  Sparrow,  was  born  in  1767,  on  the  Rock 
River.  He  was  not  a  chief  by  birth,  but  through  the  valor  of  his  deeds  became  the  leader  of 
his  village.  He  was  imaginative  and  discontented,  and  bred  endless  trouble  in  the  Northwest  by 
his  complaints  and  his  visionary  schemes.  He  was  completely  under  the  influence  of  the  British 
agents,  and  in  1812  joined  Tecumseh  in  the  war  against  the  United  States.  After  the  close  of  that 
war  the  Hawk  was  peaceable  until  driven  to  resistance  by  the  encroachments  of  the  squatters. 
After  the  battle  of  Bad  Axe  he  escaped,  and  was  not  captured  until  betrayed  by  two  Winneba- 
goes.  He  was  taken  to  Fort  Armstrong,  where  he  signed  a  treaty  of  peace,  and  then  was  trans 
ferred  as  a  prisoner  of  war  to  Jefferson  Barracks,  now  St.  Louis,  where  Catlin  painted  him. 
Catlin,  in  his  "Eight  Years,"  says  :  "When  I  painted  this  chief  he  was  dressed  in  a  plain  suit  of 
buckskin,  with  a  string  of  wampum  in  his  ears  and  on  his  neck,  and  held  in  his  hand  his  medi 
cine-bag,  which  was  the  skin  of  a  black  hawk,  from  which  he  had  taken  his  name,  and  the  tail  of 
which  made  him  a  fan,  which  he  was  almost  constantly  using.'1  In  April,  1833,  Black  Hawk  and 
the  other  prisoners  of  war  were  transferred  to  Fortress  Monroe.  They  were  released  in  June,  and 
made  a  trip  through  the  Atlantic  cities  before  returning  West.  Black  Hawk  settled  in  Iowa,  where 
he  and  his  followers  were  given  a  small  reservation  in  Davis  County.  He  died  in  1838. 


150 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 


to  our  feet,  and,  having  a  full  view 
of  the  road  for  a  long  distance,  could 
see  a  large  body  coming  toward  us. 
All  eyes  were  turned  to  John  Dixon, 
who,  as  the  last  one  dropped  out  of 
sight  coming  over  a  ridge,  pronounced 
them  Indians.  I  stationed  my  men  in 
a  ravine  crossing  the  road,  where  any 
one  approaching  could  not  see  us  until 
within  thirty  yards  ;  the  horses  I  had 
driven  back  out  of  sight  in  a  valley. 
I  asked  General  Henry  to  take  com 
mand.  He  said,  'No;  stand  at  your 
post,'  and  walked  along  the  line,  talk 
ing  to  the  men  in  a  low,  calm  voice. 
Lieutenant  Harris,  U.S.A.,  seemed 
much  agitated  ;  he  ran  up  and  down 
the  line,  and  exclaimed,  '  Captain,  we 
will  catch  hell ! '  He  h  a  d  horse- 
pistols,  belt-pistols,  and  a  double- 
barrelled  gun.  He  would  pick  the 
flints,  reprime,  and  lay  the  horse- 
pistols  at  his  feet.  When  he  got  all 
ready  he  passed  along  the  line  slowly, 
and  seeing  the  nerves  of  the  men  all 
quiet — after  General  Henry's  talk  to 
them — said,  ;  Captain,  we  are  safe  ; 
we  can  whip  five  hundred  Indians.' 
Instead  of  Indians,  they  proved  to  be 
the  command  of  General  Dodge,  from 
Galena,  of  one  hundred  and  fifty  men, 
en  route  to  find  out  what  had  become 
of  General  Atkinson's  army,  as,  since 
the  murder  of  the  six  men,  communi 
cation  had  been  stopped  for  more  than  ten  days.  My  look-out 
at  the  top  of  the  hill  did  not  notify  us,  and  we  were  not  unde 
ceived  until  they  got  within  thirty  steps  of  us.  My  men  then 
raised  a  yell  and  ran  to  finish  their  lunch.  .  .  . 

"  When  we  got  within  fifteen  miles  of  Galena,  on  Apple  Creek, 
we  found  a  stockade  filled  with  women  and  children  and  a  few 
men,  all  terribly  frightened.  The  Indians  had  shot  at  and  chased 


WHITE   CLOUD,    THE   PROPHET. 

From  a  photograph  made  for  this 
work.  Af\er  a  painting  in  the  collection 
of  the  State  Historical  Society  of  Wiscon 
sin,  and  here  reproduced  through  the 
courtesy  of  the  secretary,  Mr.  Reuben  G. 
Thwaites.  The  chief  of  an  Indian  vil 
lage  on  the  Rock  River,  White  Cloud 
was  half  Winnebago,  half  Sac.  He  was 
false  and  crafty,  and  it  was  largely  his 
counsels  which  induced  Black  Hawk  to 
recross  the  Mississippi  in  1832.  He  was 
captured  with  Black  Hawk,  was  a  pris 
oner  at  both  Jefferson  Barracks  and 
Fortress  Monroe,  and  made  the  tour  of 
the  Atlantic  cities  with  his  friends.  The 
above  portrait  was  made  at  Fortress  Mon 
roe  by  R.  M.  Sully.  Catlin  also  painted 
White  Cloud  at  Jefferson  Barracks  in 
1832.  He  describes  him  as  about  forty 
years  old  at  that  time,  "nearly  six  feet 
high,  stout  and  athletic."  He  said  he 
let  his  hair  grow  out  to  please  the 
whites.  Catlin's  picture  shows  him 
with  a  very  heavy  head  of  hair.  The 
prophet,  after  his  return  from  the  East, 
remained  among  his  people  until  his 
death  in  1840  or  1841. 


FRANTIC   TERROR  RAISED  BY  BLACK  HAWK. 


151 


BLACK  HAWK. 

From  a  photograph  made  for  this 
work.  After  an  improved  replica  of  the 
original  portrait  painted  by  R.  M.  Sully 
at  Fortress  Monroe  in  1833,  and  now  in 
the  Museum  of  the  State  Historical  So 
ciety  of  Wisconsin,  at  Madison.  It  is 
reproduced  through  the  courtesy  of  the 
secretary  of  the  society,  Mr.  Ruebeu  G. 
Thwaites. 


tw o  men 
that  after 
noon,  who 
made  their 
escape  to 
the  stock 
ade.  They 
insisted  on 
our  quar- 
tering  in 
the  fort,  but 
instead  we 
camped  one 
hundred 
yards  out- 
side,  and 
slept- 
what  little 
sleep  we 
did  get  — 
with  our 

guns  on  our  arms.  General  Henry  did 
not  sleep,  but  drilled  my  men  all  night ; 
so  the  moment  they  were  called  they 
would  bounce  to  their  feet  and  stand 
in  two  lines,  the  front  ready  to  fire, 
and  fall  back  to  reload,  while  the 
others  stepped  forward  to  take  their 
places.  They  were  called  up  a  num 
ber  of  times,  and  we  got  but  little 
sleep.  We  arrived  a-t  Galena  the  next 
day,  and  found  the  citizens  prepared 
to  defend  the  place.  They  were  glad 
to  see  us,  as  it  had  been  so  long  since 
they  had  heard  from  General  Atkin 
son  and  his  army.  The  few  Indians 

prowling  about  Galena  and  murdering  were  simply  there  as  a  ruse. 
"On  our  return  from  Galena,  near  the  forks  of  the  Apple 
River  and  Gratiot  roads,  we  could  see  General  Dodge  on  the 
Gratiot  road,  on  his  return  from  Rock  River.  His  six  scouts  had 
discovered  my  two  men  that  I  had  allowed  to  drop  in  the  rear — 


WHIRLING   THUNDEK. 

From  a  photograph  made  for  this 
work.  After  a  painting  by  R.  M.  Sully 
in  the  collection  of  the  State  Historical 
Society  of  Wisconsin,  and  here  repro 
duced  through  the  courtesy  of  the  secre 
tary,  Mr.  Reuben  G.  Thwaites.  Black 
Hawk  had  two  sons  :  the  elder  was  the 
Whirling  Thunder,  the  younger  the 
Roaring  Thunder  ;  both  were  in  the  war, 
and  both  were  taken  prisoners  with  their 
father,  and  were  with  him  at  Jefferson 
Barracks  and  at  Fortress  Monroe  and  on 
the  trip  through  the  Atlantic  cities.  At 
Jefferson  Barracks  Catlin  painted  them, 
and  the  pictures  are  in  the  National  Mu 
seum.  While  at  Fortress  Monroe  the 
above  picture  of  Whirling  Thunder  was 
painted.  A  pretty  anecdote  is  told  of  the 
Whirling  Thunder.  While  on  their  tour 
through  the  East  the  Indians  were  invit 
ed  to  various  gatherings,  and  much  was 
done  for  their  entertainment.  On  one  of 
these  occasions  a  young  lady  sang  a 
ballad.  Whirling  Thunder  listened  in- 
tently,  and  when  she  ended  he  plucked 
an  eagle's  feather  from  his  head-dress 
and,  giving  it  to  a  white  friend,  said  : 
"  Take  that  to  your  mocking-bird 
squaw."  Black  Hawk's  sons  remained 
with  him  until  his  death  in  1838,  and 
then  removed  with  the  Sacs  and  Foxes 
to  Kansas. 


152 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 


two  men  who  had  been  in  Still- 
man's  defeat,  and,  having  weak 
horses,  were  allowed  to  fall  be 
hind.  Having  weak  horses  they 
had  fallen  in  the  rear  about  two 
miles,  and  each  took  the  other 
to  be  Indians,  and  such  an  ex 
citing  race  I  never  saw,  until 
they  got  sight  of  my  company ; 
then  they  came  to  a  sudden  halt, 
and  after  looking  at  us  a  few 
moments,  wheeled  their  horses 
and  gave  up  the  chase.  My  two 
men  did  not  know  but  that  they 
were  Indians  until  they  came  up 
with  us  and  shouted  '  Indians  ! ' 
They  had  thrown  away  their 
wallets  and  guns,  and  used  their 
ramrods  as  whips. 

u  The  few  houses  on  the  road 
that  usually  accommodated  the 
travel  were  all  standing,  but 
vacant,  as  we  went.  On  our  re 
turn  we  found  them  burned  by 
the  Indians.  On  my  return  to  the  Illinois  River  I  reported  to 
General  Atkinson,  saying  that,  from  all  we  could  learn,  the 
Indians  were  aiming  to  escape  by  going  north,  with  the  inten 
tion  of  crossing  the  Mississippi  River  above  Galena.  The  new 
troops  had  just  arrived  and  were  being  mustered  into  service. 
My  company  had  only  been  organized  for  twenty  days,  and  as 
the  time  had  now  expired,  the  men  were  mustered  out.  All  but 
myself  again  volunteered  for  the  third  time." 


ZACHARY   TAYLOR. 

At  the  breaking  out  of  the  Black  Hawk  War, 
Zachary  Taylor,  afterwards  general  in  the  Mexi 
can  War,  and  finally  President  of  the  United  States, 
was  colonel  of  the  First  Infantry.  He  joined  At 
kinson  at  the  beginning  of  the  war,  and  was  in 
active  service  until  the  end  of  the  campaign. 


LINCOLN    AND    HIS    COMPANY    ENTER    MICHIGAN    TERRITORY. 

On  June  20th  Lincoln  was  mustered  in  again,  by  Major  Ander 
son,  as  a  member  of  an  independent  company  under  Captain 
Jacob  M.  Early.  His  arms  were  valued  this  time  at  only  fifteen 
dollars,  his  horse  and  equipment  at  eighty-five  dollars.* 

*  See  "  Wisconsin  Historical  Collections,"  Volume  X.,  for  Major  Anderson's  remi 
niscences  of  the  Black  Hawk  War. 


SUFFERINGS  OF   THE  ARMY  AND   SETTLERS. 


153 


Tomahawk.  Indian  Pipe.          Powder-horn. 

Flint-lock  Rifle.        Indian  Flute. 

Indian  Knife. 

BLACK  HAWK  WAR  RELICS. 

From  a  photograph  made  for  this  work.  This  group  of  relics  of  the  Black  Hawk  War  was  selected  for 
us  from  the  collection  in  the  museum  of  the  Wisconsin  Historical  Society  by  the  secretary,  Mr.  Reuben  G. 
Thwaites.  The  coat  and  chapeau  belonged  to  General  Dodge,  an  important  leader  in  the  war.  The  Indian 
relics  are  a  tomahawk,  a  Winnebago  pipe,  a  Winnebago  flute,  and  a  knife.  The  powder-horn  and  the  flint 
lock  rifle  are  the  only  volunteer  articles.  One  of  the  survivors  of  the  war,  Mr.  Elijah  Herring  of  Stockton, 
Illinois,  says  of  the  flintlock  rifles  used  by  the  Illinois  volunteers  :  "  They  were  constructed  like  the  old- 
fashioned  rifle,  only  in  place  of  a  nipple  for  a  cap  they  had  a  pan  in  which  was  fixed  an  oil  flint  which  the 
hammer  struck  when  it  came  down,  instead  of  the  modern  cap.  The  pan  was  filled  with  powder  grains, 
enough  to  catch  the  spark  and  communicate  it  to  the  load  in  the  gun.  These  guns  were  all  right,  and  rarely 
missed  fire  on  a  dry,  clear  day;  but  unless  they  were  covered  well,  the  dews  of  evening  would  dampen  the 
powder,  and  very  often  we  were  compelled  to  withdraw  the  charge  and  load  them  over  again.  We  had  a 
gunsmith  with  us,  whose  business  it  was  to  look  after  the  guns  for  the  whole  regiment ;  and  when  a  gun  was 
found  to  be  damp,  it  was  his  duty  to  get  his  tools  and  '  draw  '  the  load.  At  that  time  the  Cramer  lock  and 
triggers  had  just  been  put  on  the  market,  and  my  rifle  was  equipped  with  these  improvements,  a  fact  of 
which  I  was  very  proud.  Instead  of  one  trigger  my  rifle  had  two,  one  set  behind  the  other— the  hind  one 
to  cock  the  gun,  and  the  front  one  to  shoot  it.  The  man  Cramer  sold  his  lock  and  triggers  in  St.  Louis, 
and  I  was  one  of  the  first  to  use  them." 

The  army  moved  up  Rock  Biver  soon  after  the  middle  of 
June.  Black  Hawk  was  overrunning  the  country,  and  scatter 
ing  death  wherever  he  went.  The  settlers  were  wild  with  fear, 
and  most  of  the  settlements  were  abandoned.  At  a  sudden 
sound,  at  the  merest  rumor,  men,  women,  and  children  fled.  "I 
well  remember  those  troublesome  times,"  says  one  old  Illinois 
woman.  "We  often  left  our  bread-dough  unbaked,  to  rush  to 


154  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 

the  Indian  fort  near  by."  When  Mr.  John  Bryant,  a  brother  of 
William  C  alien  Bryant,  visited  the  colony  in  Princeton,  in  1832, 
he  found  it  nearly  broken  up  on  account  of  the  war.  Every 
where  the  crops  were  neglected,  for  the  able-bodied  men  were 
volunteering.  William  Cullen  Bryant,  who,  in  June,  1834,  trav 
elled  on  horseback  from  Petersburg  to  near  Pekin,  and  back, 
wrote  home :  ' '  Every  few  miles  on  our  way  we  fell  in  with 
bodies  of  Illinois  militia  proceeding  to  the  American  camp,  or 
saw  where  they  had  encamped  for  the  night.  They  generally 
stationed  themselves  near  a  stream  or  a  spring  in  the  edge  of  a 
wood,  and  turned  their  horses  to  graze  on  the  prairie.  Their  way 
was  barked  or  girdled,  and  the  roads  through  the  uninhabited 
country  were  as  much  beaten  and  as  dusty  as  the  highways  on 
New  York  Island.  Some  of  the  settlers  complained  that  they 
made  war  upon  the  pigs  and  chickens.  They  were  a  hard-looking 
set  of  men,  unkempt  and  unshaved,  wearing  shirts  of  dark  calico, 
and  sometimes  calico  capotes." 

Soon  after  the  army  moved  up  the  Rock  River,  the  indepen 
dent  spy  company,  of  which  Lincoln  was  a  member,  was  sent 
with  a  brigade  to  the  northwest,  near  Galena,  in  pursuit  of  the 
Hawk.  The  nearest  Lincoln  came  to  an  actual  engagement  in 
the  war  was  here.  The  skirmish  of  Kellogg' s  Grove  took  place  on 
June  25th  ;  Lincoln's  company  came  up  soon  after  it  was  over, 
and  helped  bury  the  five  men  killed.  It  was  probably  to  this 
experience  that  he  referred  when  he  told  a  friend  once  of  com 
ing  on  a  camp  of  white  scouts  one  morning  just  as  the  sun  was 
rising.  The  Indians  had  surprised  the  camp,  and  had  killed  and 
scalped  every  man. 

"  I  remember  just  how  those  men  looked,"  said  Lincoln,  "as 
we  rode  up  the  little  hill  where  their  camp  was.  The  red  light 
of  the  morning  sun  was  streaming  upon  them  as  they  lay  heads 
towards  us  on  the  ground.  And  every  man  had  a  round  red  spot 
on  the  top  of  his  head,  about  as  big  as  a  dollar,  where  the  red 
skins  had  taken  his  scalp.  It  was  frightful,  but  it  was  gro 
tesque  ;  and  the  red  sunlight  seemed  to  paint  everything  all 
over."  Lincoln  paused,  as  if  recalling  the  vivid  picture,  and 
added,  somewhat  irrelevantly,  ' '  I  remember  that  one  man  had 
buckskin  breeches  on." 

By  the  end  of  the  month  the  troops  crossed  into  Michigan 
Territory— as  Wisconsin  was  then  called — and  July  was  passed 
floundering  in  swamps  and  stumbling  through  forests,  in  pursuit 


LINCOLN'S  FIRST  EXPERIENCES  ON  THE  STUMP.        155 

of  the  now  nearly  exhausted  Black  Hawk.  On  July  10th,  three 
weeks  before  the  last  battle  of  the  war,  that  of  Bad  Axe,  in 
which  the  whites  finally  massacred  most  of  the  Indian  band,  Lin 
coln' s  company  was  disbanded  at  Whitewater,  Wisconsin,  and  he 
and  his  friends  started  for  home.  The  volunteers  in  returning 
suffered  much  from  hunger.  Mr.  Durley  of  Hennepin,  Illinois, 
who  walked  home  from  Rock  Island,  Illinois,  says  all  he  had  to 
eat  on  the  journey  was  meal  and  water  baked  in  rolls  of  bark 
laid  by  the  fire.  Lincoln  was  little  better  off.  The  night  before 
his  company  started  from  Whitewater  he  and  one  of  his  mess 
mates  had  their  horses  stolen  ;  and,  excepting  when  their  more 
fortunate  companions  gave  them  a  lift,  they  walked  as  far  as 
Peoria,  Illinois,  where  they  bought  a  canoe,  and  paddled  down 
the  Illinois  River  to  Havana.  Here  they  sold  the  canoe,  and 
walked  across  the  country  to  New  Salem. 


CHAPTER   XIII. 

ELECTIONEERING  IN  1832  IN  ILLINOIS.— LINCOLN  DEFEATED  OF 
ELECTION  TO  THE  ASSEMBLY.— BUYS  A  STORE. 

N  returning  to  New  Salem,  Lincoln  at  once  plunged 
into  electioneering.    He  ran  as  "an  avowed  Clay 
man,"  and  the  county  was  stiffly  Democratic. 
However,  in  those  days  political  contests  were 
almost  purely  personal.     If  the  candidate  was 
liked  he  was  voted  for  irrespective  of  principles. 
"The  Democrats  of  New  Salem  worked  for  Lin 
coln  out  of  their  personal  regard  for  him,"  said 
Stephen  T.  Logan,  a  young  lawyer  of  Springfield, 
who  made  Lincoln's  acquaintance  in  the  campaign.     "  He  was  as 
stiff  as  a  man  could  be  in  his  Whig  doctrines.     They  did  this  for 
him  simply  because  he  was  popular  ;  because  he  was  Lincoln." 

It  was  the  custom  for  the  candidates  to  appear  at  every 
gathering  which  brought  the  people  out,  and,  if  they  had  a 
chance,  to  make  speeches.  Then,  as  now,  the  farmers  gathered 
at  the  county-seat,  or  at  the  largest  town  within  their  reach, 
on  Saturday  afternoons,  to  dispose  of  produce,  buy  supplies, 
see  their  neighbors,  and  get  the  news.  During  election  times 
candidates  were  always  present,  and  a  regular  feature  of  the  day 


156 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 


was  listening  to  their  speeches.  Public  sales,  also,  were  gather 
ings  which  they  never  missed,  it  being  expected  that  after  the 
"  vandoo  "  the  candidates  would  take  the  auctioneer's  place. 

Lincoln  let  none  of  these  chances  to  be  heard  slip.  Accom 
panied  by  his  friends,  generally  including  a  few  Clary's  Grove 
Boys,  he  always  was  present.  The  first  speech  he  made  was 
after  a  sale  at  Pappsville.  What  he  said  there  is  not  remem 
bered  ;  but  an  illustration  of  the  kind  of  man  he  was,  interpo 
lated  into  his  discourse,  made  a  lasting  impression.  A  fight  broke 
out  in  his  audience  while  he  was  on  the  stand,  and  observing 
that  one  of  his  friends  was  being  worsted,  he  bounded  into 
the  group  of  contestants,  seized  the  fellow  who  had  his  supporter 
down,  threw  him  ' i  ten  or  twelve  feet,"  remounted  the  platform, 
and  finished  the  speech.  Sangamon  County  could  appreciate 
such  a  performance,  and  the  crowd  that  day  at  Pappsville  never 
forgot  Lincoln. 

His  appearance  at  Springfield  at  this  time  was  of  great  im 
portance  to  him.  Springfield  was  not  then  a  very  attractive 
place.  Bryant,  visiting  it  in  June,  1832,  said  that  the  houses 


SCENE  OF  STILLMAN'S  DEFEAT. 
From  a  photograph  loaned  by  S.  J.  Dodds  of  Lena,  Illinois. 


LINCOLN  MAKES   VALUABLE  ACQUAINTANCES.        157 


were  not  as  good  as  at  Jackson 
ville,  "a  considerable  propor 
tion  of  them  being  log  cabins, 
and  the  whole  town  having  an 
appearance  of  dirt  and  discom 
fort."  Nevertheless  it  was  the 
largest  town  in  the  county,  and 
among  its  inhabitants  were  many 
young  men  of  education,  birth, 
and  energy.  One  of  these  men 
Lincoln  had  become  well  ac 
quainted  with  in  the  Black  Hawk 
War,  Major  John  Stuart,*  at 
that  time  a  lawyer,  and,  like 
Lincoln,  a  candidate  for  the 
General  Assembly.  He  met 
others  at  this  time  who  were  to 
be  associated  with  him  more  or 
less  closely  in  the  future  in  both 
law  and  politics,  such  as  Judge 
Logan  and  William  Butler. 
With  these  men  the  manners 
which  had  won  him  the  day  at 
Pappsville  were  of  no  value; 
what  impressed  them  was  his 
"  very  sensible  speech,"  and  his 
decided  individuality  and  origin 
ality. 

The  election  came  off  on 
August  6th.     Lincoln  was  de- 

*  There  were  many  prominent  Americans 
in  the  Black  Hawk  War,  with  some  of  whom 
Lincoln  became  acquainted.  Among  the 
best  known  were  General  Robert  Anderson ; 
Colonel  Zachary  Taylor;  General  Scott, 
afterwards  candidate  for  President,  and 
Lieutenant-General ;  Henry  Dodge,  Gover 
nor  of  the  Territory  of  Wisconsin,  and  United 

States  Senator;  Hon.  William  L.  D.  Ewing  and  Hon.  Sidney  Breese,  both  United  States 
Senators  from  Illinois;  William  S.  Hamilton,  a  son  of  Alexander  Hamilton;  Colonel 
Nathan  Boone,  son  of  Daniel  Boone ;  Lieutenant  Albert  Sydney  Johnston,  afterwards  a 
Confederate  general.  Jefferson  Davis  was  not  in  the  war,  according  to  the  muster-rolls 
of  his  company,  which  report  him  absent  on  furlough  from  March  26  to  August  18,  1832. 


From  a  photograph  in  the  war  collection  of  Mr.  Robert 
Coster. 

MAJOR    ROBERT    ANDERSON. 

Born  in  Kentucky  in  1805.  In  1825  graduated 
at  West  Point.  Anderson  was  on  duty  at  the  St. 
Louis  Arsenal  when  the  Black  Hawk  War  broke 
out.  He  asked  permission  to  join  General  Atkin 
son,  who  commanded  the  expedition  against  the 
Indians  ;  was  placed  on  his  staff  as  Assistant  In 
spector-General,  and  was  with  him  until  the  end 
of  the  war.  Anderson  twice  mustered  Lincoln 
into  the  service  and  once  out.  When  General 
Scott  was  sent  to  take  Atkinson's  place,  Ander 
son  was  ordered  to  report  to  the  former  for  duty, 
and  was  sent  by  him  to  take  charge  of  the  In 
dians  captured  at  Bad  Axe.  It  was  Anderson  who 
conducted  Black  Hawk  to  Jefferson  Barracks. 
His  adjutant  in  this  task  was  Lieutenant  Jeffer 
son  Davis.  From  1835-37  Anderson  was  an  in 
structor  at  West  Point.  He  served  in  the  Florida 
War  in  1837-38,  and  was  wounded  at  Molino  del 
Rey  in  the  Mexican  War.  In  1857  he  was  ap 
pointed  Major  of  the  First  Artillery.  On  Novem 
ber  20,  1860,  Anderson  assumed  command  of  the 
troops  in  Charleston  Harbor.  On  April  14th  he 
surrendered  Fort  Sumter,  marching  out  with  the 
honors  of  war.  He  was  made  brigadier-general 
by  Lincoln  for  his  service.  On  account  of  failing 
health  he  was  relieved  from  duty  in  October,  1861. 
In  1865  he  was  bre vetted  major-general.  He  died 
in  France  in  1871. 


158  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 

feated.  "This  was  the  only  time  Abraham  was  ever  defeated 
on  a  direct  vote  of  the  people,"  say  his  autobiographical  notes. 
He  had  a  consolation  in  his  defeat,  however,  for  in  spite  of  the 
pronounced  Democratic  sentiments  of  his  precinct,  he  received 
two  hundred  and  seventy-seven  votes  out  of  three  hundred  cast. 
The  facts  upon  this  point  are  here  stated  for  the  first  time.  The 
biographers,  as  a  rule,  have  agreed  that  Lincoln  received  all  of 
the  votes  cast  in  the  New  Salem  precinct,  except  three.  Mr. 
Herndon  places  the  total  vote  at  208  ;  Mcolay  and  Hay,  at  277  ; 
and  Mr.  Lincoln  himself,  in  his  autobiography,  has  said  that  he 
received  all  but  seven  of  a  total  of  277  votes,  basing  his  statement, 
no  doubt,  upon  memory.  An  examination  of  the  official  poll-book 
in  the  county  clerk's  office  at  Springfield  shows  that  all  of  these 
figures  are  erroneous  ;  exactly  three  hundred  votes  were  cast.  Of 
these  Lincoln  received  277.  The  fact  remains,  however — and  it  is 
a  fact  which  has  been  commented  upon  by  several  of  the  biogra 
phers  as  showing  his  phenomenal  popularity — that  the  vote  for 
Lincoln  was  far  in  excess  of  that  given  any  other  candidate.  The 
twelve  candidates,  with  the  number  of  votes  of  each,  were  :  Abra 
ham  Lincoln,  277 ;  John  T.  Stewart,  182 ;  William  Carpenter,  136 ; 
John  Dawson,  105 ;  E.  D.  Taylor,  88 ;  Archer  G.  Herndon,  84 ; 
Peter  Cartwright,  62  ;  Achilles  Morris,  27 ;  Thomas  M.  Neal,  21 ; 
Edward  Robeson,  15  ;  Zachariah  Peters,  4  ;  Richard  Dunston,  4. 
Of  the  twenty -three  who  did  not  vote  for  Lincoln,  ten  re 
frained  from  voting  for  representative  at  all,  thus  leaving  only 
thirteen  votes  actually  cast  against  Lincoln.  Lincoln  is  not  re 
corded  as  voting.  This  defeat  did  not  take  him  out  of  politics. 
The  first  civil  office  Lincoln  ever  held  was  that  of  clerk  of  the 
next  election,  in  September.  The  report  in  his  hand  still  exists  ; 
as  far  as  we  know,  it  is  his  first  official  document. 

LOOKING   FOR  WOEK. 

It  was  in  August,  1832,  that  Lincoln  made  his  unsuccessful 
canvass  for  the  Illinois  Assembly.  The  election  over,  he  began 
to  look  for  work.  One  of  his  friends,  an  admirer  of  his  physical 
strength,  advised  him  to  become  a  blacksmith,  but  it  was  a  trade 
which  afforded  little  leisure  for  study,  and  for  meeting  and  talk 
ing  with  men ;  and  he  had  already  resolved,  it  is  evident,  that 
books  and  men  were  essential  to  him.  The  only  employment 
in  New  Salem  which  offered  both  support  and  the  opportunities 


NEW  SALEM  MERCHANTS  IN  LINCOLN'S  DAY.  159 


BAD   AXE   BATTLE-GROUND. 


From  a  copy  of  a  painting  by  Samuel  M.  Brookes,  in  the  Museum  of  the  Wisconsin  Historical  Society. 
The  remnant  of  Black  Hawk's  force  was  slaughtered  here  on  August  1st  and  2d,  while  attempting  to  cross 
the  Mississippi.  Only  about  one  hundred  and  fifty  of  his  original  band  of  one  thousand  escaped. 

he  sought,  was  clerking  in  a  store.  But  the  stores  of  New  Salem 
were  in  more  need  of  customers  than  of  clerks.  The  business 
had  been  greatly  overdone.  In  the  fall  of  1832  there  were  at 
least  four  stores  in  New  Salem.  The  most  pretentious  was  that 
of  Hill  and  McJSTeill,  which  carried  a  large  line  of  dry  goods.  The 
three  others,  owned  respectively  by  the  Herndon  brothers, 
Reuben  Radford,  and  James  Rutledge,  were  groceries. 


DECIDES  TO  BUT  A   STORE. 

Failing  to  secure  employment  at  any  of  these  establishments, 
Lincoln  resolved  to  buy  a  store.  He  was  not  long  in  finding 
an  opportunity  to  purchase.  James  Herndon  had  already  sold 
out  his  half  interest  in  Herndon  Brothers'  store  to  William 
F.  Berry ;  and  Rowan  Herndon,  not  getting  along  well  with 
Berry,  was  only  too  glad  to  find  a  purchaser  of  his  half  in  the 
person  of  "Abe"  Lincoln.  Berry  was  as  poor  as  Lincoln  ;  but 
that  was  not  a  serious  obstacle,  for  their  notes  were  accepted 
for  the  Herndon  stock  of  goods.  They  had  barely  hung  out 


160  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 

their  sign  when  something  happened  which  threw  another  store 
into  their  hands.  Reuben  Radford  had  made  himself  obnoxious 
to  the  Clary's  Grove  Boys.,  and  one  night  they  broke  in  his  doors 
and  windows,  and  overturned  his  counters  and  sugar  barrels. 
It  was  too  much  for  Radford,  and  he  sold  out  next  day  to 
William  G.  Green  for  a  four-hundred-dollar  note  signed  by 
Green.  At  the  latter' s  request,  Lincoln  made  an  inventory  of 
the  stock,  and  then  offered  him  six  hundred  and  fifty  dollars  for  it 
— a  proposition  which  was  cheerfully  accepted.  Berry  and  Lin 
coln,  being  unable  to  pay  cash,  assumed  the  four-hundred-dollar 
note  payable  to  Radford,  and  gave  Green  their  joint  note  for  two 
hundred  and  fifty  dollars.  The  little  grocery  owned  by  James 
Rutledge  was  the  next  to  succumb.  Berry  and  Lincoln  bought 
it  at  a  bargain,  their  joint  note  taking  the  place  of  cash.  The 
three  stocks  were  consolidated.  Their  aggregate  cost  must  have 
been  not  less  than  fifteen  hundred  dollars.  Berry  and  Lincoln 
had  secured  a  monopoly  of  the  grocery  business  in  New  Salem. 
Within  a  few  weeks  two  penniless  men  had  become  the  proprie 
tors  of  three  stores,  and  had  stopped  buying  only  because  there 
were  no  more  to  purchase. 

William  F.  Berry,  the  partner  of  Lincoln,  was  the  son  of  a 
Presbyterian  minister,  the  Rev.  John  Berry,  who  lived  on  Rock 
Creek,  five  miles  from  New  Salem.  The  son  had  strayed  from 
the  footsteps  of  the  father,  for  he  was  a  hard  drinker,  a  gambler, 
a  fighter,  and  "a  very  wicked  young  man."  Lincoln  cannot  in 
truth  be  said  to  have  chosen  such  a  partner,  but  rather  to  have 
accepted  him  from  the  force  of  circumstances.  It  required  only 
a  little  time  to  make  plain  that  the  partnership  was  wholly 
uncongenial.  Lincoln  displayed  little  business  capacity.  He 
trusted  largely  to  Berry,  and  Berry  rapidly  squandered  the 
profits  of  the  business  in  riotous  living.  Lincoln  loved  books  as 
Berry  loved  liquor,  and  hour  after  hour  he  was  stretched  out  on 
the  counter  of  the  store,  or  under  a  shade  tree,  reading  Shake 
speare  or  Burns. 

His  acquaintance  with  the  works  of  these  two  writers  dates 
from  this  period.  In  New  Salem  there  was  one  of  those  curi 
ous  individuals  sometimes  found  in  frontier  settlements,  half 
poet,  half  loafer,  incapable  of  earning  a  living  in  any  steady 
employment,  yet  familiar  with  good  literature  and  capable  of 
enjoying  it — Jack  Kelso.  He  repeated  passages  from  Shake 
speare  and  Burns  incessantly  over  the  odd  jobs  he  under- 


LINCOLN  IN  1860. — HITHERTO   UNPUBLISHED. 

From  a  photograph  loaned  by  H.  W.  Fay  of  DeKalb,  Illinois.  After  Lincoln's  nomination 
for  the  presidency,  Alexander  Hesler  of  Chicago  published  a  portrait  he  had  made  of  Lincoln  in 
1857  (see  page  49).  At  the  same  time  he  put  out  a  portrait  of  Douglas.  The  contrast  was 
so  great  between  the  two,  and  in  the  opinion  of  the  politicians  so  much  in  Douglas's  favor,  that 
they  told  Hesler  he  must  suppress  Lincoln's  picture ;  accordingly  the  photographer  wrote  to 
Springfield,  requesting  Lincoln  to  call  and  sit  again.  Lincoln  replied  that  his  friends  had  de 
cided  that  he  remain  in  Springfield  during  the  canvass,  but  that  if  Hesler  would  come  to 
Springfield  he  would  be  "  dressed  up  "  and  give  him  all  the  time  he  wanted.  Hesler  went 
to  Springfield,  and  made  at  least  four  negatives,  three  of  which  are  supposed  to  have  been 
destroyed  in  the  Chicago  fire.  The  fourth  is  owned  by  Mr.  George  Ayers  of  Philadelphia.  The 
photograph  reproduced  above  is  a  print  from  one  of  the  lost  negatives. 
11 


LINCOLN'S  FAMILIARITY  WITH  SHAKESPEARE.        163 

took,  or  as  he  idled  by  the  streams — for  he  was  a  famous  fisher 
man — and  Lincoln  soon  became  one  of  his  constant  companions. 
The  taste  he  formed  in  company  with  Kelso  he  retained  through 
life. 

.William  D.  Kelley  records  an  incident  which  shows  that  Lin 
coln  had  a  really  intimate  knowledge  of  Shakespeare.  Mr.  Kelley 
had  taken  McDonough,  an  actor,  to  call  at  the  White  House, 
and  Lincoln  began  the  conversation  by  saying  : 

"  'I  am  very  glad  to  meet  you,  Mr.  McDonough,  and  am 
grateful  to  Kelley  for  bringing  you  in  so  early,  for  I  want  you  to 
tell  me  something  about  Shakespeare's  plays  as  they  are  con 
structed  for  the  stage.  You  can  imagine  that  I  do  not  get  much 
time  to  study  such  matters,  but  I  recently  had  a  couple  of  talks 
with  Hackett — Baron  Hackett,  as  they  call  him — who  is  famous 
as  Jack  Falstaff,  from  whom  I  elicited  few  satisfactory  replies, 
though  I  probed  him  with  a  good  many  questions.' 

"Mr.  McDonough,"  continues  Mr.  Kelley,  " avowed  his 
willingness  to  give  the  President  any  information  in  his  pos 
session,  but  protested  that  he  feared  he  would  not  succeed  where 
his  friend  Hackett  had  failed.  'Well,  I  don't  know,'  said  the 
President,  '  for  Hackett' s  lack  of  information  impressed  me  with 
a  doubt  as  to  whether  he  had  ever  studied  Shakespeare's  text, 
or  had  not  been  content  with  the  acting  edition  of  his  plays.' 
He  arose,  went  to  a  shelf  not  far  from  "his  table,  and  having 
taken  down  a  well-thumbed  volume  of  the  '  Plays '  of  Shakes 
peare,  resumed  his  seat,  arranged  his  glasses,  and  having  turned 
to  '  Henry  VI.'  and  read  with  fine  discrimination  an  extended 
passage,  said  :  *  Mr.  McDonough,  can  you  tell  me  why  those 
lines  are  omitted  from  the  acting  play  ?  There  is  nothing  I  have 
read  in  Shakespeare,  certainly  nothing  in  "Henry  VI."  or  the 
"Merry  Wives  of  Windsor,"  that  surpasses  its  wit  and  humor/ 
The  actor  suggested  the  breadth  of  its  humor  as  the  only  reason 
he  could  assign  for  its  omission,  but  thoughtfully  added  that  it 
was  possible  that  if  the  lines  were  spoken  they  would  require 
the  rendition  of  another  or  other  passages  which  might  be  objec 
tionable. 

"'Your  last  suggestion,'  said  Mr.  Lincoln,  '  carries  with  it 
greater  weight  than  anything  Mr.  Hackett  suggested,  but  the 
first  is  no  reason  at  all ; '  and  after  reading  another  passage,  he 
said,  'This  is  not  withheld,  and  where  it  passes  current  there 
can  be  no  reason  for  withholding  the  other.'  .  .  .  And,  as  if 


164 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 


feeling  the  impropriety 
of  preferring  the  player 
to  the  parson  [there  was 
a  clergyman  in  the  room], 
he  turned  to  the  chaplain 
and  said :  '  From  your 
calling  it  is  probable  that 
you  do  not  know  that  the 
acting  plays  which  peo 
ple  crowd  to  hear  are  not 
always  those  planned  by 
their  reputed  authors. 
Thus,  take  the  stage  edi 
tion  of  "  Richard  III." 
It  opens  with  a  passage 
from" Henry  VI,"  after 
which  come  portions  of 
^Richard  III.,"  then 
another  scene  from 
u  Henry  VI.;"  and  the 
finest  soliloquy  in  the 
play,  if  we  may  judge 
from  the  many  quota 
tions  it  furnishes,  and 
the  frequency  with  w^hich 
it  is  heard  in  amateur 
exhibitions,  was  never 
seen  by  Shakespeare,  but 
was  written — was  it  not, 
Mr.  McDonough  ? — after 
his  death,  by  Colley  Gib 
ber.' 

"Having  disposed,  for  the  present,  of  questions  relating  to 
the  stage  editions  of  the  plays,  he  recurred  to  his  standard  copy, 
and  .  .  .  read,  or  repeated  from  memory,  extracts  from  sev 
eral  of  the  plays,  some  of  which  embraced  a  number  of  lines. 
...  He  interspersed  his  remarks  with  extracts  striking  from 
their  similarity  to,  or  contrast  with,  something  of  Shakespeare's, 
from  Byron,  Rogers,  Campbell,  Moore,  and  other  English  poets."* 


MONUMENT    AT   KELLOGG'S   GROVE. 

On  June  24,  1832,  Black  Hawk  attacked  Apple  River  Fort, 
fourteen  miles  east  of  Galena,  Illinois,  but  was  unable  to 
drive  out  the  inmates.  The  next  day  he  attacked  a  spy  bat 
talion  of  one  hundred  and  fifty  men  at  Kellogg's  Grove,  six 
teen  miles  farther  east.  A  detachment  of  volunteers  relieved 
the  battalion,  and  drove  off  the  savages,  about  fifteen  of 
whom  were  killed.  The  whites  lost  five  men,  who  were 
buried  at  various  points  in  the  grove.  During  the  summer 
of  1886  the  remains  of  these  men  were  collected  and,  with 
those  of  five  or  six  other  victims  of  the  wrar,  were  placed 
together  under  the  monument  here  represented.— See  "  The 
Black  Hawk  War,"  by  Reuben  G.  Thwaites,  Vol.  XH.  in 
Wisconsin  Historical  Collections.  This  account  of  the  Black 
Hawk  War  is  the  most  trustworthy,  complete,  and  interesting 
that  has  been  made. 


Reminiscences  of  Abraham  Lincoln."     Edited  by  Allen  Thorndike  Rice,  1886. 


JOHN    REYNOLDS,    GOVERNOR  OP  ILLINOIS   1831-1834. 

After  a  steel  engraving  in  the  Governor's  office,  Springfield,  Illinois.  John  Reynolds,  Governor  of 
Illinois  from  1831  to  1834,  was  born  in  Montgomery  County,  Pennsylvania,  February  26,  1788.  He  was 
of  Irish  parentage.  When  he  was  six  months  old  his  parents  moved  to  Tennessee.  In  1800  they  removed 
to  Illinois.  When  twenty  years  old,  John  Reynolds  went  to  Knoxville,  Tennessee,  to  college,  where  he 
spent  two  years.  He  was  admitted  to  the  bar  at  Kaskaskia  in  1812.  In  the  war  of  1812  he  rendered  dis 
tinguished  service,  earning  the  title  of  "the  Old  Ranger.1'  He  began  the  practice  of  law  in  the  spring  of 
1814.  In  1818  he  was  made  an  associate  justice  of  the  Supreme  Court ;  in  1826  he  was  elected  a  member  of 
the  legislature  ;  and  in  1830,  after  a  stirring  campaign,  he  was  chosen  Governor  of  Illinois.  The  most  im 
portant  event  of  his  administration  was  the  Black  Hawk  War.  He  was  prompt  in  calling  out  the  militia  to 
subdue  the  Black  Hawk,  and  went  upon  the  field  in  person.  In  November,  1834,  just  before  the  close  of 
his  term  as  Governor,  he  resigned  to  become  a  member  of  Congress.  In  1837,  aided  by  others,  he  built  the 
first  railroad  in  the  State— a  short  line  of  six  miles  from  his  coal  mine  in  the  Mississippi  bluff  to  the  bank 
of  the  river  opposite  St.  Louis.  It  was  operated  by  horse-power.  He  again  became  a  member  of  the  legis 
lature  in  1846  and  1852,  during  the  latter  term  being  Speaker  of  the  House.  In  1860,  in  his  seventy-third 
year,  he  was  an  anti-Douglas  delegate  to  the  Charleston  convention,  and  received  the  most  distinguished 
attentions  from  the  Southern  delegates.  After  the  October  elections,  when  it  became  apparent  that  Lincoln 
would  be  elected,  he  issued  an  address  advising  the  support  of  Douglas.  His  sympathies  were  with  the 
South,  though  in  1832  he  strongly  supported  President  Jackson  in  the  suppression  of  the  South  Carolina 
nullifiers.  He  died  in  Belleville  in  May,  1865.  Governor  Reynolds  was  a  quaint  and  forceful  character. 
He  was  a  man  of  some  learning  ;  but  hi  conversation  (and  he  talked  much)  he  rarely  rose  above  the  odd 
Western  vernacular  of  which  he  was  so  complete  a  master.  He  was  the  author  of  two  books ;  one  an 
autobiography,  and  the  other  "The  Pioneer  History  of  Illinois." 


CHAPTER    XIV. 

BERRY  AND  LINCOLN    TAKE  OUT  A   TAVERN    LICENSE  AND   HIRE  A 
CLERK.— LINCOLN  BEGINS   TO  STUDY  LAW. 

T  was  not  only  Burns  and  Shakespeare  that  inter 
fered  with  the  grocery-keeping ;  Lincoln  had 
begun  seriously  to  read  law.  His  first  acquaint 
ance  with  the  subject  had  been  made  when  he 
was  a  mere  lad  in  Indiana  and  a  copy  of  the 
" Revised  Statutes  of  Indiana"  had  fallen  into 
his  hands.  The  very  copy  he  used  is  still  in 
existence,  and,  fortunately,  in  hands  where  it  is 
safe.  The  book  was  owned  by  Mr.  David  Turn- 
ham  of  Gentry ville,  and  was  given  in  1865  by  him  to  Mr.  Herndon, 
who  placed  it  in  the  Lincoln  Memorial  collection  of  Chicago.  In 
December,'  1894,  this  collection  was  sold  in  Philadelphia,  and  the 
"Statutes  of  Indiana"  was  bought  by  Mr.  William  Hoffman 
Winters,  Librarian  of  the  New  York  Law  Institute,  and  through 
his  courtesy  I  have  been  allowed  to  examine  it.  The  book  is 
worn,  the  title  page  is  gone,  and  a  few  leaves  from  the  end  are 
missing.  The  title  page  of  a  duplicate  volume  which  Mr.  Win 
ters  kindly  showed  me  reads:  "The  Revised  Laws  of  Indiana, 
adopted  and  enacted  by  the  General  Assembly  at  their  eighth 
session.  To  which  are  prefixed  the  Declaration  of  Indepen 
dence,  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  the  Constitution  of 
the  State  of  Indiana,  and  sundry  other  documents  connected 
with  the  Political  History  of  the  Territory  and  State  of  Indiana. 
Arranged  and  published  by  authority  of  the  General  Assembly. 
Cory  don:  Printed  by  Carpenter  and  Douglass,  1824." 

We  know  from  Dennis  Hanks,  from  Mr.  Turnham,  to  whom 
the  book  belonged,  and  from  other  associates  of  Lincoln' s  at  the 
time,  that  he  read  the  book  intently  and  discussed  its  contents 
intelligently.  It  was  a  remarkable  volume  for  a  thoughtful  lad 
whose  mind  had  been  fired  already  by  the  history  of  Washing 
ton  ;  for  it  opened  with  that  wonderful  document,  the  Declaration 
of  Independence,  a  document  which  became,  as  Mr.  John  G. 
Nicolay  says,  " his  political  chart  and  inspiration."  Following 
the  Declaration  of  Independence  was  the  Constitution  of  the 


LINCOLN'S  FIRST  LAW-BOOK.  167 

United  States,  the  Act  of  Virginia  passed  in  1783  by  which  the 
<  i  Territory  North  Westward  of  the  river  Ohio ' '  was  conveyed  to 
the  United  States,  and  the  Ordinance  of  1787  for  governing  this 
territory,  containing  that  clause  on  which  Lincoln  in  the  future 
based  many  an  argument  on  the  slavery  question.  This  article, 
No.  6  of  the  Ordinance,  reads :  ' '  There  shall  be  neither  slavery 
nor  involuntary  servitude  in  the  said  territory,  otherwise  than  in 
the  punishment  of  crimes,  whereof  the  party  shall  have  been  duly 
convicted :  provided  always,  that  any  person  escaping  into  the 
same,  from  whom  labor  or  service  is  lawfully  claimed  in  any  one 
of  the  original  States,  such  fugitive  may  be  lawfully  reclaimed, 
and  conveyed  to  the  person  claiming  his  or  her  labour  or  service, 
as  aforesaid." 

Following  this  was  the  Constitution  and  the  Revised  Laws  of 
Indiana,  three  hundred  and  seventy-five  pages,  of  five  hundred 
words  each,  of  statutes — enough  law,  if  thoroughly  digested,  to 
make  a  respectable  lawyer.  When  Lincoln  finished  this  book, 
as  he  had,  probably,  before  he  was  eighteen,  we  have  reason  to 
believe  that  he  understood  the  principles  on  which  the  nation 
was  founded,  how  the  State  of  Indiana  came  into  being,  and 
how  it  was  governed.  His  understanding  of  the  subject  was  clear 
and  practical,  and  he  applied  it  in  his  reading,  thinking,  and  dis 
cussion. 

It  was  after  he  had  read  the  Laws  of  Indiana  that  Lincoln 
had  free  access  to  the  library  of  his  admirer,  Judge  John  Pitcher 
of  Rockport,  Indiana,  where,  undoubtedly,  he  examined  many 
law-books.  But  from  the  time  he  left  Indiana  in  1830  he  had 
no  legal  reading  until  one  day  soon  after  the  grocery  was  started, 
when  there  happened  one  of  those  trivial  incidents  which  so 
often  turn  the  current  of  a  life.  It  is  best  told  in  Lincoln's  own 
words.  *  ' '  One  day  a  man  who  was  migrating  to  the  West  drove 
up  in  front  of  my  store  with  a  wagon  which  contained  his  family 
and  household  plunder.  He  asked  me  if  I  would  buy  an  old 
barrel  for  which  he  had  no  room  in  his  wagon,  and  which  he 
said  contained  nothing  of  special  value.  I  did  not  want  it,  but 

*  This  incident  was  told  by  Lincoln  to  Mr.  A.  J.  Conant  the  artist,  who  in  1860 
painted  his  portrait  in  Springfield.  Mr.  Conant,  in  order  to  catch  Mr.  Lincoln's  ani 
mated  expression,  had  engaged  him  in  conversation,  and  had  questioned  him  about  his 
early  life  ;  and  it  was  in  the  course  of  their  conversation  that  this  incident  came  out. 
It  is  to  be  found  in  a  delightful  and  suggestive  article  entitled,  "  My  Acquaintance  with 
Abraham  Lincoln,"  contributed  by  Mr.  Conant  to  the  "Liber  Scriptorum,"  and  by  his 
permission  quoted  here. 


168 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 


From  a  photograph  made  for  this  biography. 

ELIJAH  ILES,  CAPTAIN  OF  ONE  OP  THE 
COMPANIES  IN  WHICH  LINCOLN  SERVED 
AS  PRIVATE  IN  THE  BLACK  HAWK  WAR. 

After  a  painting  by  the  late  Mrs.  Obed 
Lewis,  niece  of  Major  lies,  and  owned 
by  Mr.  Obed  Lewis,  -  Springfield,  Illinois. 
Elijah  lies  was  born  in  Kentucky,  March 
28,  1796,  and  when  young  went  to  Mis 
souri.  There  he  heard  marvellous  stories 
about  the  Sangamon  Valley,  and  he  re 
solved  to  go  thither.  Springfield  had  just 
been  staked  out  in  the  wilderness,  and  he 
reached  the  place  in  time  to  erect  the  first 
building — a  rude  hut  in  which  he  kept  a 
store.  This  was  in  1821.  "In  the  early 
days  in  Illinois,"  he  wrote  in  1883,  "  it  was 
hard  to  find  good  material  for  law-makers. 
I  was  elected  a  State  Senator  in  1826,  and 
again  for  a  second  term.  The  Senate  then 
comprised  thirteen  members,  and  the  House 
twenty -five.1'  In  1827  he  was  elected  major 
in  the  command  of  Colonel  T.  NcXeal,  in 
tending  to  fight  the  Winnebagoes,  but  no 
fighting  occurred.  In  the  Black  Hawk 
War  of  1832,  after  his  term  as  a  private  in 
Captain  Dawson's  company  had  expired, 
he  was  elected  captain  of  a  new  company 
of  independent  rangers.  In  this  company 
Lincoln  reenlisted  as  a  private.  Major  lies 
lived  at  Springfield  to  the  end  of  his  life. 
He  died  September  4,  1883. 


to  oblige  him  I  bought  it,  and  paid 
him,  I  think,  half  a  dollar  for  it. 
Without  further  examination,  I  put 
it  away  in  the  store,  and  forgot  all 
about  it.  Some  time  after,  in  over 
hauling  things,  I  came  upon  the 
barrel,  and  emptying  it  upon  the 
floor  to  see  what  it  contained,  I 
found  at  the  bottom  of  the  rubbish 
a  complete  edition  of  Blackstone's 
Commentaries.  I  began  to  read 
those  famous  works,  and  I  had 
plenty  of  time  ;  for  during  the  long 
summer  days,  when  the  farmers 
were  busy  with  their  crops,  my  cus 
tomers  were  few  and  far  between. 
The  more  I  read"  -this  he  said 
with  unusual  emphasis — "the  more 
intensely  interested  I  became. 
Never  in  my  whole  life  was  my 
mind  so  thoroughly  absorbed.  I 
read  until  I  devoured  them." 


BEERY  AND   LINCOLN   GET  A  TAVERN 
LICENSE. 

But  all  this  was  fatal  to  busi 
ness,  and  by  spring  it  was  evident 
that  something  must  be  done  to 
stimulate  the  grocery  sales. 

On  the  6th  of  March,  1833,  the 
County  Commissioner's  Court  of 
Sangamon  County  granted  the  firm 
of  Berry  and  Lincoln  a  license  to 
keep  a  tavern  at  New  Salem. 

It  is  probable  that  the  license  was 
procured  to  enable  the  firm  to  retail 
the  liquors  which  they  had  in  stock, 
and  not  for  keeping  a  tavern.  In  a  community  in  which  liquor- 
drinking  was  practically  universal,  at  a  time  when  whiskey  was 
as  legitimate  an  article  of  merchandise  as  coffee  or  calico,  when 


WHAT  TAVERN  LICENSES  WERE  FOR  IN  NEW  SALEM.     169 


1  CERTIFY  Thai 

<^2/       &.        SQ&t&  &MX/  in  the  (.Vm:.-n?n 

command,  in  the  Regiment  <tet^nan<kd  by  Col'-FUMrr.i,  M.  Ti 
mand  of    Generals  S.    \\  .-nd  H.  ATKINSOX  callnli! 

the  Commander-in-Chicf  of  tin-  IMiljtin  of  tla-  »State.  for   the  to 
a^gpst  an  Invasion  of  the  British  Band  of  Sac  and  other  tribes  ( 
3  fcuL-        \^'.\l. 'ami  \\-Att  H 


'      ' 


v,  .      n 

A  DISCHAKGE  FROM    SERVICE  IN  THE  BLACK   HAWK  WAK   SIGNED   BY   ABRAHAM   LINCOLN  AS   CAPTAIN.— 

NOW   FIRST   PUBLISHED. 

no  family  was  without  a  jug,  when  the  minister  of  the  gospel 
could  take  his  "  dram"  without  any  breach  of  propriety,  it  is  not 
surprising  that  a  reputable  young  man  should  have  been  found 
selling  whiskey.  Liquor  was  sold  at  all  groceries,  but  it  could 
not  be  lawfully  sold  in  a  smaller  quantity  than  one  quart.  The 
law,  however,  was  not  always  rigidly  observed,  and  it  was  the 
custom  of  storekeepers  to  treat  their  patrons.  Each  of  the  three 
groceries  which  Berry  and  Lincoln  acquired  had  the  usual  sup 
ply  of  liquors,  and  it  was  only  good  business  that  they  should 
seek  a  way  to  dispose  of  the  surplus  quickly  and  profitably — 
an  end  which  could  be  best  accomplished  by  selling  it  over  the 
counter  by  the  glass.  To  do  this  lawfully  required  a  tavern 
license  ;  and  it  is  a  warrantable  conclusion  that  such  was  the 
chief  aim  of  Berry  and  Lincoln  in  procuring  a  franchise  of  this 
character.  We  are  fortified  in  this  conclusion  by  the  coincidence 
that  three  other  grocers  of  New  Salem — William  Clary,  Henry 
Sincoe,  and  George  Warberton — were  among  those  who  took  out 
tavern  licenses.  To  secure  the  lawful  privilege  of  selling  whis 
key  by  the  adram"  was  no  doubt  their  purpose;  for  their 
" taverns"  were  as  mythical  as  the  inn  of  Berry  and  Lincoln. 
Lincoln  may,  of  course,  have  desired  to  go  into  the  tavern  busi 
ness  and  so  have  taken  out  a  license,  but  it  is  certain  that  he 


170 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 


never  realized  Ms  ambition  and  that  it  was  only  in  the  grocery 
that  he  sold  liquor. 

The  license  issued  to  Berry  and  Lincoln  read  as  follows : 


Ordered  that  William  F.  Berry,  in  the  name  of  Berry  and 
Lincoln,  have  a  license  to  keep  a  tavern  in  New  Salem  to  con 
tinue  12  months  from  this  date,  and  that  they  pay  one  dollar 
in  addition  to  the  six  dollars  heretofore  paid  as  per  Treasurer's 
receipt,  and  that  they  be  allowed  the  following  rates  (viz.)  : 

French  Brandy  per  *  pt 25 

Peach        "  18* 

Apple        "  12 

Holland  Gin  18* 

Domestic  12* 

Wine  25 

Rum  • 18* 

Whiskey  12* 

Breakfast,  dinner  or  supper 25 

Lodging  per  night 12* 

Horse  per  night 25 

Single  feed 12* 

Breakfast,  dinner  or  supper  for  Stage  Passengers 37* 

who  gave  bond  as  required  by  law. 

At  the  granting  of  a  tavern  license,  the  applicants  therefor 
were  required  by  law  to  file  a  bond.  The  bond  given  in  the  case 
of  Berry  and  Lincoln  was  as  follows  : 


Know  all  men  by  these  presents,  we,  William  F.  Berry, 
Abraham  Lincoln  and  John  Bowling  Green,  are  held  and 
firmly  bound  unto  the  County  Commissioners  of  Sangamon 
County  in  the  full  sum  of  three  hundred  dollars  to  which  pay 
ment  well  and  truly  to  be  made  we  bind  ourselves,  our  heirs, 
executors  and  administrators  firmly  by  these  presents,  sealed 
with  our  seal  and  dated  this  6th  day  of  March  A.D.  1833. 
Now  the  condition  of  this  obligation  is  such  that  Whereas 
the  said  Berry  &  Lincoln  has  obtained  a  license  from  the 
County  Commissioners  Court  to  keep  a  tavern  in  the  Town 
of  New  Salem  to  continue  one  year.  Now  if  the  said  Berry 
&  Lincoln  shall  be  of  good  behavior  and  observe  all  the  laws 
of  this  State  relative  to  tavern  keepers — then  this  obligation 
to  be  void  or  otherwise  remain  in  full  force. 

ABRAHAM  LINCOLN  [Seal] 
WM.  F.  BERRY  [Seal] 
BOWLING  GREEN  [Seal] 


Sangamontow 
-i.    SPRINGFIELD* 
ks6nvilfe 


The  black  line  indicates  the 
route  Lincoln  is  supposed  to 
have  followed  with  the  army 
as   far  as  Whitewater,  where 
he  was  dismissed.    When  the 
ig-  army  started  from  near  Otta- 
wa,  after  the  20th  of  June,  to 
follow  the   Indians   up  Rock 
River,  Lincoln's  battalion  was 
sent  towards  the  northwest,  and  joined  the  mam 
army  near  Lake  Koshkonong  early  in  July. 
Soon  after,  he  went  to  Whitewater,  where,  on 
July  10th,  his  battalion  was  disbanded,  and  he 
returned  by  foot  and  canoe  to  New  Salem.    The 
dotted  line  shows  the  route  he  is  supposed  to 
have  taken.    The  towns  named  on  the  map  are 
those  with  which  Lincoln  was  connected  either 
in  his  legal  or  his  political  life. 

y  1 .  I 


MAP  OF 

ILLINOIS 

AND  PART  OF 
MICHIGAN  TERRITORY 

SHOWING 

LINCOLN'S  SUPPOSED  LINE  OF 
MARCH  IN  BLACK  HAWK  WAR 

SCALE  OF  MILES 
g'g       BRADLEY  4  POATE8.  ENSR'S,  M.Y.  & 


MAP  OP  ILLINOIS  IK 


J.— PBBPABED  SPECIALLY  TOR  THIS  WORK. 


172  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 

This  bond  appears  to  have  been  written  by  the  clerk  of  the 
Commissioners'  Court ;  and  Lincoln's  name  was  signed  by  some 
one  other  than  himself,  very  likely  by  his  partner  Berry. 

THE    FIRM   HIRES   A    CLERK. 

The  license  seems  to  have  stimulated  the  business,  for  the 
firm  concluded  to  hire  a  clerk.  The  young  man  who  secured 
this  position  was  Daniel  Green  Burner,  son  of  Isaac  Burner,  at 
whose  house  Lincoln  for  a  time  boarded.  He  is  still  living  on  a 
farm  near  Galesburg,  Illinois,  and  is  in  the  eighty-second  year  of 
his  age.  "  The  store  building  of  Berry  and  Lincoln,"  says  Mr. 
Burner,  "was  a  frame  building,  not  very  large,  one  story  in 
height,  and  contained  two  rooms.  In  the  little  back  room  Lincoln 
had  a  fireplace  and  a  bed.  There  is  where  we  slept.  I  clerked 
in  the  store  through  the  winter  of  1833-34,  up  to  the  1st  of 
March.  While  I  was  there  they  had  nothing  for  sale  but  liquors. 
They  may  have  had  some  groceries  before  that,  but  I  am  certain 
they  had  none  then.  I  used  to  sell  whiskey  over  their  counter 
at  six  cents  a  glass — and  charged  it,  too.  N.  A.  Garland  started 
a  store,  and  Lincoln  wanted  Berry  to  ask  his  father  for  a  loan, 
so  they  could  buy  out  Garland ;  but  Berry  refused,  saying  this 
was  one  of  the  last  things  he  would  think  of  doing." 

Among  the  other  persons  yet  living  who  were  residents  with 
Lincoln  of  New  Salem  or  its  near  neighborhood,  are  Mrs.  Par- 
thenia  W.  Hill,  aged  seventy-nine  years,  widow  of  Samuel  Hill, 
the  New  Salem  merchant ;  James  McGrady  Rutledge,  aged 
eighty-one  years ;  John  Potter,  aged  eighty-seven  years ;  and 
Thomas  Watkins,  aged  seventy-one  years — all  now  living  at 
Petersburg,  Illinois.  Mrs.  Hill,  a  woman  of  more  than  ordinary 
intelligence,  did  not  become  a  resident  of  New  Salem  until  1835, 
the  year  in  which  she  was  married.  Lincoln  had  then  gone  out 
of  business,  but  she  knew  much  of  his  store.  "  Berry  and  Lin 
coln,"  she  says,  "did  not  keep  any  dry  goods.  They  had  a 
grocery,  and  I  have  always  understood  they  sold' whiskey."  Mr. 
Rutledge,  a  nephew  of  James  Rutledge  the  tavern-keeper,  has  a 
vivid  recollection  of  the  store.  He  says :  "  I  have  been  in  Berry 
and  Lincoln's  store  many  a  time.  The  building  was  a  frame — one 
of  the  few  frame  buildings  in  New  Salem.  There  were  two  rooms, 
and  in  the  small  back  room  they  kept  their  whiskey.  They  had 
pretty  much  everything,  except  dry  goods — sugar,  coffee,  some 


-  <4<*    :fa*  •-_ 


/ 


FACSIMILE  OF  AN  ELECTION  RETURN  WRITTEN  BY  LINCOLN  AS  CLERK  IN  1832. — NOW  FIRST  PUBLISHED. 

From  the  original  now  on  file  in  the  county  clerk's  office,  Springfield,  Illinois.  The  first  civil  office 
Lincoln  ever  held  was  that  of  election  clerk,  and  the  return  made  by  him,  of  which  a  facsimile  is  here 
presented,  was  his  first  official  document.  All  the  men  whose  names  appear  on  this  election  return  are  now 
dead,  except  William  McNeely,  now  residing  at  Petersburg.  John  Clary  lived  at  Clary's  Grove  ;  John  R. 
Herndon  was  "Row"  Herndon,  whose  store  Berry  and  Lincoln  purchased,  and  at  whose  house  Lincoln 
for  a  time  boarded  ;  Baxter  Berry  was  a  relative  of  Lincoln's  partner  in  the  grocery  business,  and  Edmund 
Greer  was  a  school-teacher,  and  afterwards  a  justice  of  the  peace  and  a  surveyor  ;  James  Rutledge  was  the 
keeper  of  the  Rntledge  tavern  and  the  father  of  Ann  Rutledge  ;  Hugh  Armstrong  was  one  of  the  numerous 
Armstrong  family  ;  "Uncle  Jimmy"  White  lived  on  a  farm  five  miles  from  New  Salem,  and  died  about 
thirty  years  ago,  in  the  eightieth  year  of  his  age  ;  William  Green  was  father  of  William  G.  Greene,  Lincoln's 
associate  in  Offutt's  store  ;  and  as  to  Bowling  Green,  more  is  said  elsewhere.  In  the  following  three  or  four 
years,  very  few  elections  were  held  in  New  Salem  at  which  Lincoln  was  not  a  clerk.  It  is  a  somewhat 
singular  fact  that  Lincoln,  though  clerk  of  this  election,  is  not  recorded  as  voting. 


174 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 


FOUR   IIOK^K   COACH. 


u  \c;n:;r-n   TO  THE  YEM.O'W 

S.iIcMii.    1'fctersburgh, 

""•JBEfJi^T-Vr •*-..-?"   t-hirnn  IT  ivana,  Lt'\\is!.-j'.v>i 
ii»  Knoxvillr,  Montaouth,  to   the  Yellow 
Banlis. 

I V-ave  Springfield  eve.  y  \\"» dnesday  morning 
at    6  o'cloelt ,  arrive    ?U    Mon!ii«»uth    t'n  Friday 
evcni.1^^  at  G  o'clock, >«.:»•!  at  the  Yellow  Bunks  I 
MU<issippi,  m.-xt  dayat  12  31.       Return 
llie  same   days    to    Moifmonth.  nr:d    arrive   at 
j field  on  Tuti'jJay  evenings  »t  6  o'clock. 
•  through  to  the  Yellow  Banks,  nine  dol 
lars  ;   way  j)a.*M.-ngers   si  i    and  n    fourth  cents 
,>r-r  mihi.       {>j,.;;;.!^-  a  I  the  risk  of  tlip  owners. 
The  proprietors   have  procured  good  carriages 
ami  ii«»r<j.-s,  and  caroful  drivers,    ami  every  tit- 
tention   will  he  paid    to  the    comfort   and  ^on- 
'renionce  of  passengrrs. 

Q^'Tiio  country  throti^h  which   this  coach] 
i^   \vrll   worthy  the  attention    of  emi-  I 
grants.     The  pairouage  df  .the  pnhiic    )s    soli- 
tic,';  lor  this  new   enterpri/.?:. 
April  30.—^4  TRACT  k 


This  advertisement  appeared  in  the  "  Sangamo  Journal " 
in  April,  1834,  and  held  a  place  in  the  paper  through  the  next 
three  years.  As  the  "  Four  Horse  Coach  "  ran  through  San- 
gamontown  and  New  Salem,  it  doubtless  had  Lincoln  as  a  pas 
senger  now  and  then;  but  not  often,  probably,  for  the  fare 
from  New  Salem  to  Springfield  was  one  dollar  and  twenty-five 
cents,  and  walking,  or  riding  upon  a  borrowed  horse,  must 
generally  have  been  preferred  by  Lincoln  to  so  costly  a  mode 
of  travelling. 


Watkins,   being  then  a  young  boy, 
country,  was  not  a  frequent  visitor  at 


crockery,  a  few  pairs  of 
shoes  (not  many),  some 
farming  implements, 
and  the  like.  Whiskey, 
of  course,  was  a  neces 
sary  part  of  their  stock. 
I  remember  one  transac 
tion  in  particular  which 
I  had  with  them.  I 
sold  the  firm  a  load  of 
wheat,  which  they 
turned  over  t  o  the 
mill."  Mr.  Potter,  who 
remembers  the  morning 
when  Lincoln,  then  a 
stranger  on  his  way  to 
New  Salem,  stopped  at 
his  father's  house  and 
ate  breakfast,  knows 
less  about  the  store,  but 
says:  "  It  was  a  grocery , 
and  they  sold  whiskey, 
of  course."  Thomas 
Watkins  says  that  the 
store  contained  "a 
little  candy,  tobacco, 
sugar,  and  coffee,  and 
the  like  ; "  though  Mr. 

and  living  a  mile  in  the 

the  store. 


CHAPTER    XV. 

LINCOLN  IS  APPOINTED  POSTMASTER.— HE  LEARNS  SURVEYING,  AND 
IS  APPOINTED  DEPUTY  SURVEYOR.— THE  FIRST  WORK  HE  DID 
IN  HIS  NEW  PROFESSION.— WHAT  HE  EARNED. 


VEN  after  the  license  was  granted,  however,  busi 
ness  was  not  so  brisk  in  Berry  and  Lincoln's 
store  that  the  junior  partner  did  not  welcome  an 
appointment  as  postmaster  which  he  received  in 
May,  1833.  The  appointment  of  a  Whig  by  a 
Democratic  administration  seems  to  have  been 
made  without  comment.  i '  The  office  was  too 
insignificant  to  make  his  politics  an  objection," 
say  the  autobiographical  notes.  The  duties  of  the 
new  office  were  not  arduous,  for  letters  were  few,  and  their  comings 
far  between.  At  that  date  the  mails  were  carried  by  four-horse 
post-coaches  from  city  to  city,  and  on  horseback  from  central 
points  into  the  country  towns.  The  rates  of  postage  were  high. 
A  single-sheet  letter  carried  thirty  miles  or  under  cost  six  cents  ; 
thirty  to  eighty  miles,  ten  cents  ;  eighty  to  one  hundred  and 
fifty  miles,  twelve  and  one-half  cents  ;  one  hundred  and  fifty  to 
four  hundred  miles,  eighteen  and  one-half  cents  ;  over  four  hun 
dred  miles,  twenty-five  cents.  A  copy  of  this  magazine  sent 
from  New  York  to  New  Salem  would  have  cost  fully  twenty-five 
cents.  The  mail  was  irregular  in  coming  as  well  as  light  in  its 
contents.  Though  supposed  to  arrive  twice  a  week,  it  sometimes 
happened  that  a  fortnight  or  more  passed  without  any  mail. 
Under  these  conditions  the  New  Salem  post-office  was  not  a 
serious  care. 

A  large  number  of  the  patrons  of  the  office  lived  in  the  coun 
try—many  of  them  miles  away— but  generally  Lincoln  delivered 
the  letters  at  their  doors.  These  letters  he  would  carefully 
place  in  the  crown  of  his  hat,  and  distribute  them  from  house  to 
house.  Thus  it  was  in  a  measure  true  that  he  kept  the  New 
Salem  post-office  in  his  hat.  The  habit  of  carrying  papers  in  his 
hat  clung  to  Lincoln ;  for,  many  years  later,  when  he  was  a 
practising  lawyer  in  Springfield,  he  apologized  for  failing  to 


BERRY  AND  LINCOLN'S  STORE  IN  1895.— NOW  FIRST  PUBLISHED. 

From  a  recent  photograph  by  C.  S.  McCullough,  Petersburg,  Illinois.  The  little  frame  store  building 
occupied  by  Berry  and  Lincoln  at  New  Salem  is  now  standing  at  Petersburg,  Illinois,  in  the  rear  of  L.  W. 
Bishop's  gun-shop.  Its  history  after  1834  is  somewhat  obscure,  but  there  is  no  reason  for  doubting  its 
identity.  According  to  tradition  it  was  bought  by  Robert  Bishop,  the  father  of  the  present  owner,  about 
1835,  from  Mr.  Lincoln  himself ;  but  it  is  difficult  to  reconcile  this  legend  with  the  sale  of  the  store  to  the 
Trent  brothers,  unless,  upon  the  flight  of  the  latter  from  the  country  and  the  closing  of  the  store,  the  building, 
through  the  leniency  of  creditors,  was  allowed  to  revert  to  Mr.  Lincoln,  in  which  event  he  no  doubt  sold  it  at 
the  first  opportunity,  and  applied  the  proceeds  to  the  payment  of  the  debts  of  the  firm.  When  Mr.  Bishop 
bought  the  store  building,  he  removed  it  to  Petersburg.  It  is  said  that  the  removal  was  made  in  part  by  Lincoln 
himself  ;  that  the  job  was  first  undertaken  by  one  of  the  Bales,  but  that,  encountering  some  difficulty,  he 
called  upon  Lincoln  to  assist  him,  which  Lincoln  did.  The  structure  was  first  set  up  adjacent  to  Mr.  Bishop's 
house,  and  converted  into  a  gun-shop.  Later  it  was  removed  to  a  place  on  the  public  square ;  and  soon 
after  the  breaking  out  of  the  late  war,  Mr.  Bishop,  erecting  a  new  building,  pushed  Lincoln's  store  into  the 
back  yard,  and  there  it  still  stands.  Soon  after  the  assassination  of  Mr.  Lincoln,  the  front  door  was  pre 
sented  to  some  one  in  Springfield,  and  has  long  since  been  lost  sight  of.  It  is  remembered  by  Mr.  Bishop 
that  in  this  door  there  was  an  opening  for  the  reception  of  letters— a  circumstance  of  importance  as  tend 
ing  to  establish  the  genuineness  of  the  building,  when  it  is  remembered  that  Lincoln  was  postmaster  while 
he  kept  the  store.  The  structure,  as  it  stands  to-day,  is  about  eighteen  feet  long,  twelve  feet  in  width,  and 
ten  feet  in  height.  The  back  room,  however,  has  disappeared,  so  that  the  building  as  it  stood  when  occupied 
by  Berry  and  Lincoln  was  somewhat  longer.  Of  the  original  building  there  only  remain  the  frame-work, 
the  black  walnut  weather-boarding  on  the  front  end,  and  the  ceiling  of  sycamore  boards.  One  entire  side 
has  been  torn  away  by  relic-hunters.  In  recent  years  the  building  has  been  used  as  a  sort  of  store-room. 
Just  after  a  big  fire  in  Petersburg  some  time  ago,  the  city  council  condemned  the  Lincoln  store  building  and 
ordered  it  demolished.  Under  this  order  a  portion  of  one  side  was  torn  down,  when  Mr.  Bishop  persuaded 
the  city  authorities  to  desist,  upon  giving  a  guarantee  that  if  Lincoln's  store  ever  caught  fire,  he  would  be 
responsible  for  any  loss  which  might  ensue. 


LINCOLN  EARLY  IN  1861. — PROBABLY  THE  EARLIEST  PORTRAIT  SHOWING  HIM  WITH  A  BEARD. 

From  a  photograph  in  the  collection  of  H.  W.  Fay  of  De  Kalb,  Illinois,  taken  probably  in 
Springfield  early  in  1861.  It  is  supposed  to  have  been  the  first,  or  at  least  one  of  the  first,  por 
traits  made  of  Mr.  Lincoln  after  he  began  to  wear  a  beard.  As  is  well  known,  his  face  was 
smooth  until  about  the  end  of  1860  ;  and  when  he  first  allowed  his  beard  to  grow,  Jt  became  a 
topic  of  newspaper  comment,  and  even  of  caricature.  A  pretty  story  relating  to  Lincoln's  adop 
tion  of  a  beard  is  more  or  less  familiar.  A  letter  written  to  the  authors  of  this  Life,  under  date 
of  December  6,  1895,  by  Mrs.  Grace  Bedell  Billings,  tells  this  story,  of  which  she  herself  as  a  little 
girl  was  the  heroine,  in  a  most  charming  way  : 

DELPHOS,  KANSAS,  December  6,  1895. 

In  reply  to  your  letter  of  recent  date  inquiring  about  the  incident  of  my  childhood  and  con 
nected  with  Mr.  Lincoln,  I  would  say  that  at  the  time  of  his  first  nomination  to  the  Presidency  I 
was  a  child  of  eleven  years,  living  with  my  parents  in  Chautauqua  County,  New  York. 

My  father  was  an  ardent  Republican,  and  possessed  of  a  profound  admiration  for  the  character  of 

12 


HOW  LINCOLN  CAME   TO   GROW  A   BEARD.  179 

answer  a  letter  promptly,  by  explaining:  "When  I  received 
your  letter  I  put  it  in  my  old  hat,  and  buying  a  new  one  the  next 
day,  the  old  one  was  set  aside,  and  so  the  letter  was  lost  sight 
of  for  a  time." 

But  whether  the  mail  was  delivered  by  the  postmaster  him- 

the  grand  man  who  was  the  choice  of  his  party.  We  younger  children  accepted  his  opinions  with  unquestion 
ing  faith,  and  listened  with  great  delight  to  the  anecdotes  of  his  life  current  at  that  time,  and  were  particu 
larly  interested  in  reading  of  the  difficulties  he  encountered  in  getting  an  education.  So  much  did  it  appeal 
to  our  childish  imaginations  that  we  were  firmly  persuaded  that  if  we  could  only  study  our  lessons  prone 
before  the  glow  and  cheer  of  an  open  fire  in  a  great  fireplace,  we  too  might  rise  to  heights  which  now  we 
could  never  attain.  My  father  brought  to  us,  one  day,  a  large  poster,  and  my  mind  still  holds  a  recollection 
of  its  crude,  coarse  work  and  glaring  colors.  About  the  edges  were  grouped  in  unadorned  and  exaggerated 
ugliness  the  pictures  of  our  former  Presidents,  and  in  the  midst  of  them  were  the  faces  of  "  Lincoln  and 
Hamlin,"  surrounded  by  way  of  a  frame  with  a  rail  fence.  We  are  all  familiar  with  the  strong  and  rugged 
face  of  Mr.  Lincoln ;  the  deep  lines  about  the  mouth,  and  the  eyes  have  much  the  same  sorrowful  expression 
in  all  the  pictures  I  have  seen  of  him.  I  think  I  must  have  felt  a  certain  disappointment,  for  I  said  to  my 
mother  that  he  would  look  much  nicer  if  he  wore  whiskers;  and  straightway  gave  him  the  benefit  of  my  opin 
ion  in  a  letter,  describing  the  poster,  and  hinting,  rather  broadly,  that  his  appearance  might  be  improved  if  he 
would  let  his  whiskers  grow.  Not  wishing  to  wound  his  feelings,  I  added  that  the  rail  fence  around  his 
picture  looked  real  pretty !  I  also  asked  him  if  he  had  any  little  girl,  and  if  so,  and  he  was  too  busy  to  write 
and  tell  me  what  he  thought  about  it,  if  he  would  not  let  her  do  so ;  and  ended  by  assuring  him  I  meant  to 
try  my  best  to  induce  two  erring  brothers  of  the  Democratic  faith  to  cast  their  votes  for  him.  I  think  the 
circumstance  would  have  speedily  passed  from  my  mind  but  for  the  fact  that  I  confided  to  an  elder  sister 
that  I  had  written  to  Mr.  Lincoln,  and  had  she  not  expressed  a  doubt  as  to  whether  I  had  addressed  him 
properly.  To  prove  that  I  had,  and  was  not  as  ignorant  as  she  thought  ire,  I  rewrote  the  address  for  her 
inspection:  "Hon.  Abraham  Lincoln  Esquire.'1'1 

My  mortification  at  the  laughter  and  ridicule  excited  was  somewhat  relieved  by  my  mother's  remarking 
that  "  there  would  be  no  mistake  as  to  whom  the  letter  belonged."  The  reply  to  my  poor  little  letter  came 
in  due  time,  and  the  following  is  a  copy  of  the  original,  which  is  still  in  my  possession. 

"  Private. 

"  SPRINGFIELD,  ILLINOIS,  October  19,  1860. 
"  Miss  GRACE  BEDELL. 

"  My  Dear  little  Miss : — Your  very  agreeable  letter  of  the  15th  inst.  is  received.  I  regret  the  necessity 
of  saying  I  have  no  daughter.  I  have  three  eons  ;  one  seventeen,  one  nine,  and  one  seven  years  of  age. 
They,  with  their  mother,  constitute  my  whole  family.  As  to  the  whiskers,  having  never  worn  any,  do  you 
not  think  people  would  call  it  a  piece  of  silly  affectation  if  I  were  to  begin  wearing  them  now  ?  Your  very 
sincere  well-wisher, 

"  A.  LINCOLN." 

Probably  the  frankness  of  the  child  appealed  to  the  humorous  side  of  his  nature,  for  the  suggestion 
was  acted  upon.  After  the  election,  and  on  his  journey  from  Springfield  to  Washington,  he  inquired  of 
Hon.  G.  W.  Patterson,  who  was  one  of  the  party  who  accompanied  him  on  that  memorable  trip,  and  who 
was  a  resident  of  our  town,  if  he  knew  of  a^amily  bearing  the  name  of  Bedell.  Mr.  Patterson  replying  in 
the  affirmative,  Mr.  Lincoln  said  he  had  "  received  a  letter  from  a  little  girl  called  Grace  Bedell,  advising 
me  to  wear  whiskers,  as  she  thought  it  would  improve  my  looks."  He  said  the  character  of  the  "letter  was 
so  unique,  and  so  different  from  the  many  self-seeking  and  threatening  ones  he  was  daily  receiving,  that  it 
came  to  him  as  a  relief  and  a  pleasure."  When  the  train  reached  Westfield,  Mr.  Lincoln  made  a  short 
speech  from  the  platform  of  the  car,  and  in  conclusion  said  he  had  a  correspondent  there,  relating  the  cir 
cumstance  and  giving  my  name,  and  if  she  were  present  he  would  like  to  see  her.  I  was  present,  but  in 
the  crowd  had  neither  seen  nor  heard  the  speaker  ;  but  a  gentleman  helped  me  forward,  and  Mr.  Lincoln 
stepped  down  to  the  platform  where  I  stood,  shook  my  hand,  kissed  me,  and  said  :  "  You  see  I  let  these 
whiskers  grow  for  you,  Grace."  The  crowd  cheered,  Mr.  Lincoln  reentered  the  car,  and  I  ran  quickly  home, 
looking  at  and  speaking  to  no  one,  with  a  much  dilapidated  bunch  of  roses  in  my  hand,  which  I  had  hoped 
might  be  passed  up  to  Mr.  Lincoln  with  some  other  flowers  which  were  to  be  presented,  but  which  in  my 
confusion  I  had  forgotten.  Gentle  and  genial,  simple  and  warm-hearted,  how  full  of  anxiety  must  have 
been  his  life  in  the  days  which  followed  1  These  words  seem  to  fitly  describe  him  :  "  A  man  of  sorrows  and 
acquainted  with  grief."  Very  sincerely, 

GRACE  BEDELL  BILLINGS. 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 


FACSIMILE  OP  A  TAVERN  LICENSE  ISSUED  TO  BERRY  AND  LINCOLN  MARCH  6,  1833,  BY  THE   COUNTY  COM 
MISSIONERS1  COURT  OF  SANGAMON  COUNTY. 

The  only  tavern  in  New  Salem  in  1833  was  that  kept  by  James  Rutledge—  a  two-story  log  structure  of 
five  rooms,  standing  just  across  the  street  from  Berry  and  Lincoln's  store.  Here  Lincoln  boarded.  It 
seems  entirely  probable  that  he  may  have  had  an  ambition  to  get  into  the  tavern  business,  and  that  he  and 
Berry  obtained  a  license  with  that  end  in  view,  possibly  hoping  to  make  satisfactory  terms  for  the  pur 
chase  of  the  Rutledge  hostelry.  The  tavern  of  sixty  years  ago,  besides  answering  the  purposes  of  the 
modern  hotel,  was  the  dramshop  of  the  frontier.  The  business  was  one  which,  in  Illinois,  the  law  strictly 
regulated.  Tavern-keepers  were  required  to  pay  a  license  fee,  and  to  give  bonds  to  insure  their  good 
behavior.  Minors  were  not  to  be  harbored,  nor  did  the  law  permit  liquor  to  be  sold  to  them  ;  and  the  sale 
to  slaves  of  any  liquors  "  or  strong  drink,  mixed  or  unmixed,  either  within  or  without  doors,"  was  likewise 
forbidden.  Nor  could  the  poor  Indian  get  any  "  fire-water  "  at  the  tavern  or  the  grocery.  If  a  tavern-keeper 
violated  the  law,  two-thirds  of  the  fine  assessed  against  him  went  to  the  poor  people  of  the  county.  The 
Rutledge  tavern  was  the  only  one  at  New  Salem  of  which  we  have  any  authentic  account.  There  were 
other  landlords  besides  Mr.  Rutledge  ;  but  nothing  can  be  more  certain  than  that  Lincoln  was  not  one  of 
them.  The  few  surviving  inhabitants  of  the  vanished  village,  and  of  the  country  round  about,  have  a  clear 
recollection  of  Berry  and  Lincoln's  store  ;  but  not  one  has  been  found  with  the  faintest  remembrance  of  a 
tavern  kept  by  Lincoln,  or  by  Berry,  or  by  both.  Stage  passengers  jolting  into  New  Salem  sixty-two  years 
ago  must,  if  Lincoln  was  inn-keeper,  have  partaken  of  his  hospitality  by  the  score  ;  but  if  they  did,  they 
all  died  many,  many  years  ago,  or  have  all  maintained  an  unaccountable  and  most  perplexing  silence. 


self,  or  the  recipient  came  to  the  store  to  inquire,  "Anything 
for  me  ?  "  it  was  the  habit  "  to  stop  and  visit  awhile."  He  who 
received  a  letter  read  it  and  told  the  contents  ;  if  he  had  a  news 
paper,  usually  the  postmaster  could  tell  him  in  advance  what  it 
contained,  for  one  of  the  perquisites  of  the  early  postmaster  was 
the  privilege  of  reading  all  printed  matter  before  delivering  it. 
Every  day,  then,  Lincoln's  acquaintance  in  New  Salem,  through 
his  position  as  postmaster,  became  more  intimate. 


LINCOLN  MASTERS  SURVEYING  IN  SIX  WEEKS.        181 


A  NEW   OPENING. 

As  the  summer  of  1833  went  on,  the  condition  of  the  store 
became  more  and  more  unsatisfactory.  As  the  position  of  post 
master  brought  in  only  a  small  revenue,  Lincoln  was  forced  to 
take  any  odd  work  he  could  get.  He  helped  in  other  stores  in 
the  town,  split  rails,  and  looked  .after  the  mill ;  but  all  this 
yielded  only  a  scant  and  uncertain  support,  and  when  in  the  fall 
he  had  an  opportunity  to  learn  surveying,  he  accepted  it  eagerly. 

The  condition  of  affairs  in  Illinois  in  the  thirties  made  a  de 
mand  for  the  services  of  surveyors.  The  immigration  had  been 
phenomenal.  There  were  thousands  of  farms  to  be  surveyed  and 
thousands  of  corners  to  be  located.  Speculators  bought  up 
large  tracts,  and  mapped  out  cities  on  paper.  It  was  years  before 
the  first  railroad  was  built  in  Illinois,  and,  as  all  inland  travelling 
was  on  horseback  or  in  the  stage-coach,  each  year  hundreds  of 
miles  of  wagon  road  were  opened  through  woods  and  swamps  and 
prairies.  As  the  county  of  Sangamon  was  large,  and  eagerly 
sought  by  immigrants,  the  county  surveyor  in  1833,  one  John 
Calhoun,  needed  deputies  ;  but  in  a  country  so  new  it  was  no 
easy  matter  to  find  men  with  the  requisite  capacity. 

With  Lincoln,  Calhoun  had  little,  if  any,  personal  acquaint 
ance,  for  they  lived  twenty  miles  apart.  Lincoln,  however,  had 
made  himself  known  by  his  meteoric  race  for  the  legislature  in 
1832,  and  Calhoun  had  heard  of  him  as  an  honest,  intelligent,  and 
trustworthy  young  man.  One  day  he  sent  word  to  Lincoln  by 
Pollard  Simmons,  who  lived  in  the  New  Salem  neighborhood, 
that  he  had  decided  to  appoint  him  a  deputy  surveyor  if  he  would 
accept  the  position. 

Going  into  the  woods,  Simmons  found  Lincoln  engaged  in  his 
old  occupation  of  making  rails.  The  two  sat  down  together  on  a 
log,  and  Simmons  told  Lincoln  what  Calhoun  had  said.  It  was 
a  surprise  to  Lincoln.  Calhoun  was  a  "  Jackson  man  ; "  he  was 
for  Clay.  What  did  he  know  about  surveying,  and  why  should 
a  Democratic  official  offer  him  a  position  of  any  kind  ?  He  im 
mediately  went  to  Springfield,  and  had  a  talk  with  Calhoun.  He 
would  not  accept  the  appointment,  he  said,  unless  he  had  the 
assurance  that  it  involved  no  political  obligation,  and  that  he 
might  continue  to  express  his  political  opinions  as  freely  and 
frequently  as  he  chose.  This  assurance  was  given.  The  only 
difficulty  then  in  the  way  was  the  fact  that  he  knew  absolutely 


182  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 

nothing  of  surveying.  But  Calhoun,  of  course,  understood  this, 
and  agreed  that  he  should  have  time  to  learn. 

With  the  promptness  of  action  with  which  he  always  under 
took  anything  he  had  to  do,  he  procured  Flint  and  Gibson's 
treatise  on  surveying,  and  sought  Mentor  Graham  for  help.  At 
a  sacrifice  of  some  time,  the  schoolmaster  aided  him  to  a  partial 
mastery  of  the  intricate  subject.  Lincoln  worked  literally  day 
and  night,  sitting  up  night  after  night  until  the  crowing  of  the 
cock  warned  him  of  the  approaching  dawn.  So  hard  did  he 
study  that  his  friends  were  greatly  concerned  at  his  haggard 
face.  But  in  six  weeks  he  had  mastered  all  the  books  within 
reach  relating  to  the  subject — a  task  which,  under  ordinary  cir 
cumstances,  would  hardly  have  been  achieved  in  as  many  months. 
Reporting  to  Calhoun  for  duty  (greatly  to  the  amazement  of  that 
gentleman),  he  was  at  once  assigned  to  the  territory  in  the  north 
west  part  of  the  county,  and  the  first  work  he  did  of  which  there 
is  any  authentic  record  was  in  January,  1834.  In  that  month  he 
surveyed  a  piece  of  land  for  Russell  Godby,  dating  the  certifi 
cate  January  14,  1834,  and  signing  it  "  J.  Calhoun,  S.  S.  C.,  by 
A.  Lincoln." 

Lincoln  was  frequently  employed  in  laying  out  public  roads, 
being  Selected  for  that  purpose  by  the  County  Commissioners' 
Court.  So  far  as  can  be  learned  from  the  official  records,  the 
first  road  he  surveyed  was  "from  Musick's  Ferry,  on  Salt  Creek, 
via  New  Salem,  to  the  county  line  in  the  direction  of  Jackson 
ville."  For  this  he  was  allowed  fifteen  dollars  for  five  days' 
service,  and  two  dollars  and  fifty  cents  for  a  plat  of  the  new 
road.  The  next  road  he  surveyed,  according  to  the  records,  was 
that  leading  from  Athens  to  Sangamon  town.  This  was  reported 
to  the  County  Commissioners'  Court,  November  4,  1834.  But 
road  surveying  was  only  a  small  portion  of  his  work.  He  was 
more  frequently  employed  by  private  individuals. 

SURVEYING   WITH   A   GRAPEVINE. 

According  to  tradition,  when  he  first  took  up  the  business  he 
was  too  poor  to  buy  a  chain,  and,  instead,  used  a  long,  straight 
grapevine.  Probably  this  is  a  myth,  though  surveyors  who  had 
experience  in  the  early  days  say  it  may  be  true.  The  chains 
commonly  used  at  that  time  were  made  of  iron.  Constant  use 
wore  away  and  weakened  the  links,  and  it  was  no  unusual  thing 


LINCOLN'S   WORK  AS  A   SURVEYOR. 


183 


THE   STATE-HOUSE    AT    VANDALIA,   ILLINOIS. — NOW    USED    AS    A    COURT-HOUSE. 

Vandalia  was  the  State  capital  of  Illinois  for  twenty  years,  and  three  different  State-houses 
were  built  and  occupied  there.  The  first,  a  two-story  frame  structure,  was  burned  down 
December  9,  1823.  The  second  was  a  brick  building,  and  was  erected  at  a  cost  of  twelve 
thousand,  three  hundred  and  eighty-one  dollars  and  fifty  cents,  of  which  the  citizens  of  Vandalia 
contributed  three  thousand  dollars.  The  agitation  for  the  removal  of  the  capital  to  Spring 
field  began  in  1833,  and  in  the  summer  of  1836  the  people  of  Vandalia,  becoming  alarmed  at  the 
prospect  of  their  little  city's  losing  its  prestige  as  the  seat  of  the  State  government,  tore  down 
the  old  capitol  (much  complaint  being  made  about  its  condition),  and  put  up  a  new  one  at  a  cost 
of  sixteen  thousand  dollars.  The  tide  was  too  great  to  be  checked  ;  but  after  the  "  Long  Nine  " 
had  secured  the  passage  of  the  bill  taking  the  capital  to  Springfield,  the  money  which  the  Vanda 
lia  people  had  expended  was  refunded.  The  State-house  shown  in  this  picture  was  the  third  and 
last  one.  In  it  Lincoln  served  as  a  legislator.  Ceasing  to  be  a  capitol  July  4,  1839,  it  was  con 
verted  into  a  court-house  for  Fayette  County,  and  is  still  so  used. 

for  a  chain  to  lengthen  six  inches  after  a  year's  use.  "And 
a  good  grapevine,"  to  use  the  words  of  a  veteran  surveyor, 
4 'would  give  quite  as  satisfactory  results  as  one  of  those  old- 
fashioned  chains." 

Lincoln's  surveys  had  the  extraordinary  merit  of  being  cor 
rect.  Much  of  the  government  work  had  been  rather  indifferently 
done,  or  the  government  corners  had  been  imperfectly  preserved, 
and  there  were  frequent  disputes  between  adjacent  landowners 
about  boundary  lines.  Frequently  Lincoln  was  called  upon  in 
such  cases  to  find  the  corner  in  controversy.  His  verdict  was 


— "  John  Cameron  always  kept  a  barrel  of  whiskey 
in  the  house."  He  was  a  powerful  man  physically, 
and  a  typical  frontiersman.  He  was  born  in  Ken 
tucky  in  1791,  and,  with  his  wife,  moved  to  Illinois 
in  1815.  He  settled  in  Sangamon  County  in  1818, 
and  in  1829  took  up  his  abode  in  a  cabin  on  a  hill 
overlooking  the  Sangamon  River,  and,  with  James 
Rntledge,  founded  the  town  of  New  Salem.  Ac 
cording  to  tradition,  Lincoln  for  a  time  lived  with 
the  Camerons.  In  the  early  thirties  they  moved 
to  Fulton  County,  Illinois ;  then,  in  1841  or  1842, 
to  Iowa ;  and  finally,  in  1849,  to  California.  In 
California  they  lived  to  a  ripe  old  age— Mrs.  Cam 
eron  dying  in  1875,  and  her  husband  following  her 
three  years  later.  They  had  twelve  children,  eleven 
of  whom  were  girls.  Mr.  Cameron  is  said  to  have 
officiated  at  the  funeral  of  Ann  Rutledge  in  1835. 


DANIEL  GREEN  BURNER,  BERRY  AND  LINCOLN'S 
CLERK. 

From  a  recent  photograph.  Mr.  Burner  lived 
at  New  Salem  from  1829  to  1834.  Lincoln  for  many 
months  lodged  with  his  father,  Isaac  Burner.  He 
now  lives  on  a  farm  near  Galesburg,  Illinois.  Mr. 
Burner  is  over  eighty  years  of  age. 


THE  REV.   JOHN  M.   CAMERON,   A  NEW   SALEM 
FRIEND  OP  LINCOLN. 

From  a  photograph  in  the  possession  of  the 
Hon.  W.  J.  Orendorff  of  Canton,  Illinois.  John 
M.  Cameron,  a  Cumberland  Presbyterian  minister, 
and  a  devout,  sincere,  and  courageous  man,  was 
held  in  the  highest  esteem  by  his  neighbors.  Yet, 
according  to  Daniel  Green  Burner,  Berry  and  Lin 
coln's  clerk — and  the  fact  is  mentioned  merely  as 
illustrating  a  universal  custom  among  the  pioneers 


JAMES   SHORT,   WHO   SAVED  LINCOLN  S   HORSE    AND 
SURVEYING  INSTRUMENTS  FROM  A  CREDITOR. 

From  a  photograph  taken  at  Jacksonville,  Illi 
nois,  about  thirty  years  ago.  James  Short  lived  on 
Sand  Ridge,  a  few  miles  north  of  New  Salem. 
When  Lincoln's  horse  and  surveying  instruments 
were  levied  upon  by  a  creditor  and  sold,  Mr.  Short 
bought  them  in,  and  made  Lincoln  a  present  of  them . 
Lincoln,  when  President,  made  his  old  friend  an 
Indian  agent  in  California.  Mr.  Short  died  in  Iowa 
many  years  ago.  His  acquaintance  with  Lincoln  be 
gan  in  rather  an  interesting  way.  His  sister,  who 
lived  in  New  Salem,  had  made  Lincoln  a  pair  of 
jeans  trousers.  The  material  supplied  by  Lincoln 
was  scant,  and  the  trousers  came  out  conspicuously 
short  in  the  legs.  One  day  when  James  Short  was 
visiting  with  his  sister,  he  pointed  to  a  man  walking 
down  the  street,  and  asked,  "  Who  is  that  man  in  the 
short  breeches  ?  "  "  That  is  Lincoln."  And  Mr. 
Short  went  out  and  introduced  himself. 


A  GROUP  OF  LINCOLN'S  OLD  NEIGHBORS. 


SQUIRE  COLEMAN  SMOOT,  ONE   OF   LINCOLN'S  FIRST 
POLITICAL  SUPPORTERS. 

Coleman  Smoot  was  born  in  Virginia,  Febru 
ary  13,  1794  ;  removed  to  Kentucky  when  a  child  ; 
married  Rebecca  Wright,  March  17,  1817 ;  came  to 
Illinois  in  1831,  and  lived  on  a  farm  across  the  San- 
gamon  River  from  New  Salem  until  his  death,  March 
21,  1876.    Lincoln  met  him  for 
the  first  time  in  Offutt's  store  in       ^^^^^^^^m 
1831.     "Smoot,11  said  Lincoln, 
"I  am  disappointed  in  you  ;  I 
expected  to  see  a  man  as  ugly  as 
old  Probst,11  referring  to  a  man 
reputed  to  be  the  homeliest  in 
the  county.    "  And  I  am  disap 
pointed,11  replied  Smoot;    "I 
had  expected  to  see  a  good- 
looking  man  when  I  saw  you.1' 
After  Lincoln's  election  to  the 
legislature  in  1834,  he  called  on 
Smoot  and  said:  "I  want  to  buy 
some  clothes  and  fix  up  a  little, 
and  I  want  you  to  loan  me  two 
hundred  dollars . 1 '  The  loan  was 
cheerfully  made,  and,  of  course, 
was  subsequently  repaid . 


SAMUEL  HILL,    AT   WHOSE    STORE   LINCOLN   KEPT 
THE  POST-OFFICE. 

From  an  old  daguerreotype.    Samuel  Hill  was 
among  the  earliest  inhabitants  of  New  Salem.    He 
opened  a  general  store  there  in  partnership  with  John 
McNeill— the  John  McNeill  who  became  betrothed 
to  Ann  Rutledge,  and  whose  real  name  was  after 
wards  discovered  to  be  John  McNamar.     When 
McNeill  left  New  Salem  and  went  East,  Mr.  Hill 
became  sole  proprietor  of  the  store.    He  also  owned 
the  carding  machine  at  New 
iH^^^f       Salem.     Lincoln,  after   going 
out  of  the   grocery  business, 
made  his  headquarters  at  Sam 
uel  HilPs  store.    There  he  kept 
the  post-office,  entertained  the 
^.  loungers,  and   on   busy   days 

^t  helped  Mr.  Hill  wait  on  custom 

ers.  Mr.  Hill  is  said  to  have 
once  courted  Ann  Rutledge 
himself,  but  he  did  not  receive 
the  encouragement  which  was 
bestowed  upon  his  partner, 
McNeill.  In  1835  he  married 
Miss  Parthenia  W.  Nance, 
who  still  lives  at  Petersburg. 
In  1839  he  moved  his  store  to 
Petersburg,  and  died  there  in 
1857. 


MARY  ANN  RUTLEDGE,  MOTHER  OF  ANN  MATES  RUTLEDGE. 

From  an  old  tintype.  Mary  Ann  Rutledge  was  the  wife  of  James  Rutledge  and  the  mother  of  Ann. 
She  was  born  October  21, 1787,  and  reared  in  Kentucky.  She  lived  to  be  ninety-one  years  of  age,  dying  in 
Iowa,  December  26,  1878.  The  Rutledges  left  New  Salem  in  1833  or  1834,  moving  to  a  farm  a  few  miles 
northward.  On  this  farm  Ann  Rutledge  died,  August  25,  1835  ;  and  here  also,  three  months  later  (Decem 
ber  3,  1835),  died  her  father,  broken-hearted,  no  doubt,  by  the  bereavement.  In  the  following  year  the 
family  moved  to  Fulton  County,  Illinois,  and  some  three  years  later  to  Birmingham,  Iowa.  Of  James 
Eutledge  there  is  no  portrait  in  existence.  He  was  born  in  South  Carolina,  May  11,  1781.  He  and  his 
sons,  John  and  David,  served  in  the  Black  Hawk  War. 

A  GROUP  OF  LINCOLN'S   OLD  NEIGHBORS. 


186 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 


invariably  the  end  of  the  dispute,  so  general  was  the  confidence 
in  his  honesty  and  skill.  Some  of  these  old  corners  located  by 
him  are  still  in  existence.  The  people  of  Petersburg  proudly 
remember  that  they  live  in  a  town  which  was  laid  out  by  Lin 
coln.  This  he  did  in  1836,  and  it  was  the  work  of  several  weeks. 

Lincoln's  pay  as  a  surveyor  was  three  dollars  a  day,  more 
than  he  had  ever  before  earned.  Compared  with  the  compensa 
tion  for  like  services  nowadays,  it  seems  small  enough  ;  but  at 
that  time  it  was  really  princely.  The  governor  of  the  State  re 
ceived  a  salary  of  only  one  thousand  dollars  a  year,  the  Secre 
tary  of  State  six  hundred  dollars,  and  good  board  and  lodging 
could  be  obtained  for  one  dollar  a  week.  But  even  three  dol 
lars  a  day  did  not  enable  him  to  meet  all  his  financial  obligations. 
The  heavy  debts  of  the  store  hung  over  him.  He  was  obliged  to 
help  his  father's  family  in  Coles  County.  The  long  distances 
he  had  to  travel  in  his  new  employment  had  made  it  necessary 
to  buy  a  horse,  and  for  it  he  had  gone  into  debt. 

"My  father,"  says  Thomas  Watkins  of  Petersburg,  "sold 
Lincoln  the  horse,  and  my  recollection  is  that  Lincoln  agreed  to 
pay  him  fifty  dollars  for  it.  Lincoln  was  a  little  slow  in  mak 
ing  the  payments,  and  after  he  had  paid  all  but  ten  dollars,  my 
father,  who  was  a  high-strung  man,  became  impatient,  and  sued 
him  for  the  balance.  Lincoln,  of  course,  did  not  deny  the  debt, 
and  raised  the  money  and  paid  it.  I  do  not  often  tell  this,"  Mr. 
Watkins  adds,  '  *  because  I  have  always  thought  there  never  was 
such  a  man  as  Lincoln,  and  I  have  always  been  sorry  father  sued 
him." 


BOOT-JACK  MADE   AND   USED  BT  LINCOLN  WHEN  A  YOUNG  MAN. 

From  Libby  Prison  Museum,  Chicago,  Illinois.    By  permission  of  C.  F.  Gunther. 


FACSIMILE  OF  A  LETTER  AND  KECEIPT  WRITTEN  BY  LINCOLN  WHILE  POSTMASTER  AT  NEW   SALEM. 

Keproduced  by  permission  from  "  Menard-Salem -Lincoln  Souvenir  Album,"  Petersburg,  1893. 


CHAPTEE    XVI. 

BUSINESS    REVERSES.— LINCOLN    FOR    THE    SECOND    TIME    A 
CANDIDATE  FOR   THE  LEGISLATURE.— IS   ELECTED. 

BETWEEN  his  duties  as  deputy  surveyor  and  postmaster,  Lin- 
coin  had  little  leisure  for  the  store,  and  its  management  passed 
into  the  hands  of  Berry.  The  stock  of  groceries  was  on  the 
wane.  The  numerous  obligations  of  the  firm  were  maturing, 
with  no  money  to  meet  them.  Both  members  of  the  firm,  in  the 
face  of  such  obstacles,  lost  courage  ;  and  when,  early  in  1834, 


188  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 

Alexander  and  William  Trent  asked  if  the  store  was  for  sale,  an 
affirmative  answer  was  eagerly  given.  A  price  was  agreed  upon, 
and  the  sale  was  made.  Now,  neither  Alexander  Trent  nor  his 
brother  had  any  money  ;  but  as  Berry  and  Lincoln  had  bought 
without  money,  it  seemed  only  fair  that  they  should  be  willing 
to  sell  on  the  same  terms.  Accordingly  the  notes  of  the  Trent 
brothers  were  accepted  for  the  purchase  price,  and  the  store  was 
turned  over  to  the  new  owners.  But  about  the  time  their  notes 
fell  due  the  Trent  brothers  disappeared.  The  few  groceries  in 
the  store  were  seized  by  creditors,  and  the  doors  were  closed, 
never  to  be  opened  again. 

Misfortunes  now  crowded  upon  Lincoln.  His  late  partner, 
Berry,  soon  reached  the  end  of  his  wild  career,  and  one  morn 
ing  a  farmer  from  the  Eock  Creek  neighborhood  drove  into  JSTew 
Salem  with  the  news  that  he  was  dead. 

The  appalling  debt  which  had  accumulated  was  thrown  upon 
Lincoln's  shoulders.  It  was  then  too  common  a  fashion  among 
men  who  became  deluged  in  debt  to  "  clear  out,"  in  the  expres 
sive  language  of  the  pioneer,  as  the  Trents  had  done ;  but  this 
was  not  Lincoln's  way.  He  quietly  settled  down  among  the  men 
he  owed,  and  promised  to  pay  them.  For  fifteen  years  he  car 
ried  this  burden — a  load  which  he  cheerfully  and  manfully  bore, 
but  one  so  heavy  that  he  habitually  spoke  of  it  as  the  "  national 
debt."  Talking  once  of  it  to  a  friend,  Lincoln  said:  "That  debt 
was  the  greatest  obstacle  I  have  ever  met  in  life.  I  had  no  way 
of  speculating,  and  could  not  earn  money  except  by  labor ;  and 
to  earn  by  labor  eleven  hundred  dollars,  besides  my  living, 
seemed  the  work  of  a  lifetime.  There  was,  however,  but  one 
way.  I  went  to  the  creditors,  and  told  them  that  if  they  would 
let  me  alone,  I  would  give  them  all  I  could  earn  over  my  living, 
as  fast  as  I  could  earn  it."  As  late  as  1848,  so  we  are  informed 
by  Mr.  Herndon,  Mr.  Lincoln,  then  a  member  of  Congress,  sent 
home  money,  saved  from  his  salary,  to  be  applied  on  these  obliga 
tions.  All  the  notes,  with  interest  at  the  high  rates  then  prevail 
ing,  were  at  last  paid. 

With  a  single  exception,  Lincoln's  creditors  seem  to  have 
been  lenient.  One  of  the  notes  given  by  him  came  into  the 
hands  of  a  Mr.  Van  Bergen,  who,  when  it  fell  due,  brought  suit. 
The  amount  of  the  judgment  was  more  than  Lincoln  could  pay, 
and  his  personal  effects  were  levied  upon.  These  consisted  of  his 
horse,  saddle  and  bridle,  and  surveying  instruments.  James 


FACSIMILE   OP   A   LETTER   WRITTEN   BY   LINCOLN   WHILE   POSTMASTER   AT   NEW   SALEM.— HITHERTO 

UNPUBLISHED. 

From  the  collection  of  Mr.  C.  F.  Gunther  of  Chicago. 


190 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 


JOHN     CALHOUN,    UNDER    WHOM    LINCOLN    LEARNED     SUB- 
VEYIN6. 

From  a  steel  engraving  in  the  possession  of  R.  W.  Diller, 
Springfield,  Illinois.  John  Calhoun  was  born  in  Boston, 
Massachusetts,  October  14,  1806.  In  1830  he  removed  to 
Springfield,  Illinois,  and  after  serving  in  the  Black  Hawk 
War  was  appointed  surveyor  of  Sangamon  County.  He  was 
a  Democratic  Representative  in  1838  ;  Democratic  presidential 
elector  in  1844  ;  candidate  for  Governor  before  the  Democratic 
State  Convention  in  1846  ;  Mayor  of  Springfield  in  1849,  1850, 
and  1851.  In  1854,  President  Pierce  appointed  him  Surveyor- 
General  of  Kansas,  and  he  became  conspicuous  in  Kansas 
politics.  He  was  president  of  the  Lecompton  Convention. 
He  died  at  St.' Joseph,  Missouri,  October  25,  1859.  Mr.  Fred 
erick  Hawn,  who  was  his  boyhood  friend,  and  afterward 
married  a  sister  of  Calhoun's  wife,  is  now  living  at  Leaven- 
worth,  Kansas,  at  the  age  of  eighty-five  years.  In  an  inter 
esting  letter  to  the  writer  he  says  :  "  It  has  been  related  that 
Calhoun  induced  Lincoln  to  study  surveying  in  order  to  be 
come  his  deputy.  Presuming  that  he  was  ready  to  graduate 
and  receive  his  commission,  he  called  on  Calhoun,  then  liv 
ing  with  his  father-in-law,  Seth  R.  Cutter,  on  Upper  Lick 
Creek.  After  the  interview  was  concluded,  Mr.  Lincoln, 
about  to  depart,  remarked  :  '  Calhoun,  I  am  entirely  unable 
to  repay  you  for  your  generosity  at  present.  All  that  I  have 
you  see  on  me,  except  a  quarter  of  a  dollar  in  my  pocket.' 
This  is  a  family  tradition.  However,  my  wife,  then  a  miss  of 
sixteen,  says,  while  I  am  writing  this  sketch,  that  she  dis 
tinctly  remembers  this  interview.  After  Lincoln  was  gone 
she  says  she  and  her  sister,  Mrs.  Calhoun,  commenced  mak 
ing  jocular  remarks  about  his  uncanny  appearance,  in  the 
presence  of  Calhoun,  to  which  in  substance  he  made  this 
rejoinder:  'For  all  that,  he  is  no  common  man.'  My  wife 
believes  these  were  the  exact  words." 


Short,  a  well-to-do  farmer 
living  on  Sand  Ridge,  a 
few  miles  north  of  New 
Salem,  heard  of  the 
trouble  which  had  be 
fallen  his  young  friend. 
Without  advising  Lincoln 
of  his  plans,  he  attended 
the  sale,  bought  in  the 
horse  and  surveying  in 
struments  for  one  hun 
dred  and  twenty  dollars, 
and  turned  them  over  to 
their  former  owner.  By 
this  kind  act  of  * '  Uncle 
Jimmy,"  the  young  sur 
veyor  was  enabled  to  con 
tinue  his  business. 

Lincoln  never  forgot 
a  benefactor.  He  not  only 
repaid  the  money  with 
interest,  but  nearly  thirty 
years  later  remembered 
the  kindness  in  a  most 
substantial  way.  After 
Lincoln  left  New  Salem, 
financial  reverses  came  to 
James  Short,  and  he  re 
moved  to  the  far  West 
to  seek  his  fortune  anew. 
Early  in  Lincoln's  presi 
dential  term  he  heard  that 
" Uncle  Jimmy"  was 
living  in  California.  One 
day  Mr.  Short  received  a 
letter  from  Washington. 
Tearing  it  open,  he  read 
the  gratifying  announce 
ment  that  he  had  been 
commissioned  an  Indian 
agent. 


LINCOLN'S  HELPFULNESS  TO  ALL  ABOUT  HIM.        191 


LINCOLN  8    SURVEYING    INSTRUMENTS. 


Photographed  for  this  work.  After  Lincoln  gave  up  surveying,  he  sold  his  instruments  to  John  B. 
Gum,  afterward  county  surveyor  of  Menard  County.  Mr.  Gum  kept  them  until  a  few  years  ago,  when 
he  presented  the  instruments  to  the  Lincoln  Monument  Association,  and  they  are  now  on  exhibition  at  the 
monument  in  Springfield,  Illinois. 


THE   KINDNESS   SHOWN   LINCOLN   IN  NEW   SALEM. 

The  kindness  of  Mr.  Short  was  not  exceptional  in  Lincoln's 
New  Salem  career.  When  the  store  had  "winked  out,"  as  he 
put  it,  and  the  post-office  had  been  left  without  headquarters, 
one  of  his  neighbors,  Samuel  Hill,  invited  the  homeless  post 
master  into  his  store.  There  was  hardly  a  man  or  woman  in  the 
community  who  would  not  have  been  glad  to  do  as  much.  It 
was  a  simple  recognition  of  Lincoln's  friendliness  to  them.  He 
was  what  they  called  " obliging" — a  man  who  instinctively  did 
the  thing  which  he  saw  would  help  another,  no  matter  how 
trivial  or  homely  it  was.  In  the  home  of  Rowan  Herndon, 
where  he  had  boarded  when  he  first  came  to  the  town,  he  had 
made  himself  loved  by  his  care  of  the  children.  "He  nearly 
always  had  one  of  them  around  with  him,"  says  Mr.  Herndon. 
In  the  Rutledge  tavern,  where  he  afterwards  lived,  the  land 
lord  told  with  appreciation  how,  when  his  house  was  full,  Lin 
coln  gave  up  his  bed,  went  to  the  store,  and  slept  on  the  counter, 
his  pillow  a  web  of  calico.  If  a  traveller  "stuck  in  the  mud" 
in  New  Salem' s  one  street,  Lincoln  was  always  the  first  to  help 
pull  out  the  wheel.  The  widows  praised  him  because  he  * c  chopped 
their  wood  ; "  the  overworked,  because  he  was  always  ready  to 
give  them  a  lift.  It  was  the  spontaneous,  unobtrusive  helpful 
ness  of  the  man's  nature  which  endeared  him  to  everybody,  and 
which  inspired  a  general  desire  to  do  all  possible  in  return. 


192  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 

There  are  many  tales  told  of  homely  service  rendered  him,  even 
by  the  hard-working  farmers'  wives  around  New  Salem.  There 
was  not  one  of  them  who  did  not  gladly  "  put  on  a  plate  "  for 
Abe  Lincoln  when  he  appeared,  or  did  not  darn  or  mend  for 
him  when  she  knew  he  needed  it.  Hannah  Armstrong,  the  wife  of 
the  hero  of  Clary's  Grove,  made  him  one  of  her  family.  "  Abe 
would  come  out  to  our  house,"  she  said,  "  drink  milk,  eat  mush, 
cornbread  and  butter,  bring  the  children  candy,  and  rock  the 
cradle  while  I  got  him  something  to  eat.  .  .  .  Has  stayed  at 
our  house  two  or  three  weeks  at  a  time."  Lincoln's  pay  for  his 
first  piece  of  surveying  came  in  the  shape  of  two  buckskins,  and 
it  was  Hannah  who  "foxed"  them  on  his  trousers. 

His  relations  were  equally  friendly  in  the  better  homes  of  the 
community  ;  even  at  the  minister,  the  Rev.  John  Cameron's,  he 
was  perfectly  at  home,  and  Mrs.  Cameron  was  by  him  affection 
ately  called  "  Aunt  Polly."  It  was  not  only  his  kindly  service 
which  made  Lincoln  loved  ;  it  was  his  sympathetic  comprehen 
sion  of  the  duties  and  joys  and  sorrows  and  interests  of  the  people. 
Whether  it  was  Jack  Armstrong  and  his  wrestling,  Hannah  and 
her  babies,  Kelso  and  his  fishing  and  poetry,  the  schoolmaster 
and  his  books — with  one  and  all  he  was  at  home.  He  possessed 
in  an  extraordinary  degree  the  power  of  entering  into  the  interests 
of  others,  a  power  found  only  in  reflective,  unselfish  natures  en 
dowed  with  a  humorous  sense  of  human  foibles,  and  with  great 
tenderness  of  heart.  Men  and  women  amused  Lincoln,  but  so 
long  as  they  were  sincere  he  loved  them  and  sympathized  with 
them.  He  was  human  in  the  best  sense  of  that  fine  word. 

LINCOLN'S  ACQUAINTANCE  IN  SANGAMON  COUNTY  is 

EXTENDED. 

Now  that  the  store  was  closed  and  his  surveying  increased, 
Lincoln  had  an  excellent  opportunity  to  extend  his  acquaintance, 
for  he  was  travelling  about  the  country.  Everywhere  he  won 
friends.  The  surveyor,  naturally,  was  respected  for  his  calling's 
sake  ;  but  the  new  deputy  surveyor  was  admired  for  his  friendly 
ways,  his  willingness  to  lend  a  hand  indoors  as  well  as  out,  his 
learning,  his  ambition,  his  independence.  Throughout  the 
county  he  began  to  be  regarded  as  "a  right  smart  young  man." 
Some  of  his  associates  appear  even  to  have  comprehended  his 
peculiarly  great  character,  and  dimly  to  have  foreseen  a  splendid 


LINCOLN   IN   THE   SUMMER   OF   I860.— HITHERTO    UNPUBLISHED. 

From  a  copy  (made  by  E.  A.  Bromley  of  the  Minneapolis  "  Journal  "  staff)  of  a  photo 
graph  owned  by  Mrs.  Cyrus  Aldrich,  whose  husband,  now  dead,  was  a  Congressman  from 
Minnesota.  We  owe  the  photograph  to  the  courtesy  of  Mr.  Daniel  Fish  of  Minneapolis.  In 
the  summer  of  1860  Mr.  M.  C.  Tuttle,  a  photographer  of  St.  Paul,  wrote  to  Mr.  Lincoln, 
requesting  that  he  have  a  negative  taken  and  sent  to  him  for  local  use  in  the  campaign. 
The  request  was  granted,  but  the  negative  was  broken  in  transit.  On  learning  of  the 
accident,  Mr.  Lincoln  sat  again,  and  with  the  second  negative  he  sent  a  jocular  note  wherein 
he  referred  to  the  fact,  disclosed  by  the  picture,  that  in  the  interval  he  had  "got  a  new 
coat."  A  few  copies  of  the  picture  were  made  by  Mr.  Tnttle,  and  distributed  among  the 
Republican  editors  of  the  State.  It  has  never  before  been  reproduced.  Mrs.  Aldrich's 
copy  was  presented  to  her  by  William  H.  Seward  when  he  was  entertained  at  the  Aldrich 
homestead  (now  the  Minneapolis  City  Hospital)  in  September,  1860.  A  fine  copy  of  this 
same  photograph  is  owned  by  Mr.  Ward  Monroe  of  Jersey  City,  New  Jersey. 


13 


LINCOLN'S   WAY  OF  CONDUCTING  A   CANVASS.         195 

future.  "  Often,"  says  Daniel  Green  Burner,  Berry  and  Lin 
coln's  clerk  in  the  grocery,  "  I  have  heard  my  brother-in-law,  Dr. 
Duncan,  say  he  would  not  be  surprised  if  some  day  Abe  Lincoln 
got  to  be  Governor  of  Illinois.  Lincoln,"  Mr.  Burner  adds,  "was 
thought  to  know  a  little  more  than  anybody  else  among  the 
young  people.  He  was  a  good  debater,  and  liked  it.  He  read 
much,  and  seemed  never  to  forget  anything." 

Lincoln  was  fully  conscious  of  his  popularity,  and  it  seemed 
to  him  in  1834  that  he  could  safely  venture  to  try  again  for  the 
legislature.  Accordingly  he  announced  himself  as  a  candidate, 
spending  much  of  the  summer  of  1834  in  electioneering.  It  was 
a  repetition  of  what  he  had  done  in  1832,  though  on  the  larger 
scale  made  possible  by  wider  acquaintance.  In  company  with 
the  other  candidates,  he  rode  up  and  down  the  county,  making 
speeches  at  the  public  sales,  in  shady  groves,  now  and  then  in 
a  log  schoolhouse.  In  his  speeches  he  soon  distinguished  him 
self  by  the  amazing  candor  with  which  he  dealt  with  all  ques 
tions,  and  by  his  curious  blending  of  audacity  and  humility. 
Wherever  he  saw  a  crowd  of  men  he  joined  them,  and  he  never 
failed  to  adapt  himself  to  their  point  of  view  in  asking  for  votes. 
If  the  degree  of  physical  strength  was  their  test  for  a  candidate, 
he  was  ready  to  lift  a  weight,  or  wrestle  with  the  countryside 
champion ;  if  the  amount  of  grain  a  man  could  cradle  would 
recommend  him,  he  seized  the  cradle  and  showed  the  swath  he 
could  cut.  The  campaign  was  well  conducted,  for  in  August  he 
was  elected  one  of  the  four  assemblymen  from  Sangamon.  The 


LINCOLN'S  SADDLE-BAGS.— PHOTOGRAPHED  FOK  THIS  BIOGRAPHY. 

These  saddle-bags,  now  in  the  Lincoln  Monument  at  Springfield,  are  said  to 
have  been  used  by  Lincoln  while  he  was  a  surveyor. 


196 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 


vote  at  this  election  stood  :  Dawson,  1390 ;  Lincoln,  1376  ;  Car 
penter,  1170  ;  Stuart,  1164. 

With  one  exception,  the  biographers  of  Lincoln  have  given 
him  the  first  place  on  the  ticket  in  1834.  He  really  stood  second 
in  order.  Herndon  gives  the  correct  vote,  although  he  is  in  error 
in  saying  that  the  chief  authority  he  quotes,  a  document  owned 
by  Dr.  A.  W.  French  of  Springfield,  Illinois,  is  an  "  official 
return."  It  is  a  statement,  made  out  in  Lincoln's  writing,  and 
certified  to  by  the  county  clerk,  of  the  total  number  of  votes 
cast  in  the  whole  county  for  each  of  the  several  candidates  for 
the  legislature.  The  official  returns  are  on  file  in  the  Springfield 
court-house. 


VIEW   OF  THE    SANGAMON    K1VEK   NEAK  NEW    SA1.EM. 

Reproduced,  by  permission,  from  "  Menard-Salem-Lincoln  Souvenir  Album,"  Petersburg,  Illinois, 


CHAPTER    XVII. 


LINCOLN    FINALLY    DECIDES    ON  A   LEGAL    CAREER.— HIS    FIRST 
SESSION  IN   THE  GENERAL   ASSEMBLY   OF   ILLINOIS. 


HE  best 
thing 
which 
Lincoln 
did  in  the 
canvass 
of  1834 
was  not 
winning 

votes  ;  it  was  coming  to 
a  determination  to  read 
law,  not  for  pleasure,  but 
as  a  business.  In  his 
autobiographical  notes 
he  says  :  ' '  During  the 
canvass,  in  a  private  con 
versation,  Major  John  T. 
Stuart  (one  of  his  fellow- 
candidates)  encouraged 
Abraham  to  study  law. 
After  the  election  he  bor 
rowed  books  of  Stuart, 
took  them  home  with 
him,  and  went  at  it  in 
good  earnest.  He  never 
studied  with  anybody." 
He  seems  to  have  thrown 
himself  into  the  work 
with  an  almost  impatient 
ardor.  As  he  tramped 
back  and  forth  from 
Springfield,  twenty  miles 
away,  to  get  his  law- 
books,  he  read  sometimes 
forty  pages  or  more  on  the 


STEPHEN   A.  DOUGLAS. 

Born  at  Brandon,  Vermont,  April  23,  1813  ;  died  in  Chi 
cago,  June  3,  1861 .  Douglas  learned  a  trade  when  a  boy,  but 
abandoned  it  to  study  law.  Obliged  to  support  himself,  he 
went  to  Illinois  in  1833,  where  he  taught  school  until  admitted 
to  the  bar.  In  1835  he  was  elected  State  Attorney-General,  but 
resigned  at  the  end  of  the  year,  having  been  elected  to  the 
General  Assembly.  In  1837  he  was  appointed  register  of  the 
land-office  at  Springfield  ;  in  1838  was  defeated  in  a  contest 
for  Congress  ;  in  1840  was  appointed  Secretary  of  State  ;  in 
1841  was  elected  judge  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  Illinois.  From 
1843  to  1846  he  was  in  Congress,  and  for  fourteen  years  after 
was  a  United  States  Senator.  The  Lincoln  and  Douglas 
debates  took  place  in  his  last  senatorial  canvass.  In  1860 
Mr.  Douglas  was  the  Democratic  candidate  for  President, 
and  was  defeated  by  Lincoln.  He  died  in  1861. 


198 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 


/te£o  e**-£*-<?T-O 

>*..      £r^* 


r-T^         Os*~ff~&*~      &&iWSl>^>*J~ 

^jL^  &^o^  i 

/      / 


REPORT   OP   A   ROAD   SURVEY   BY   LINCOLN.— HITHERTO   UNPUBLISHED. 

Photographed  for  this  biography  from  the  original,  now  on  file  in  the  County  Clerk's  office, 
Springfield,  Illinois.  The  survey  here  reported  was  made  in  pursuance  of  an  order  of  the  County 
Commissioners1  Court,  September  1, 1834,  in  which  Lincoln  was  designated  as  the  surveyor. 

way.  Often  he  was  seen  wandering  at  random  across  the  fields, 
repeating  aloud  the  points  in  his  last  reading.  The  subject 
seemed  never  to  be  out  of  his  mind.  It  was  the  great  absorbing 
interest  of  his  life.  The  rule  he  gave  twenty  years  later  to  a 


LINCOLN'S  ADVICE  TO  A    YOUNG  LAW  STUDENT.      199 


TVt- 


young  man 
who  wanted 
to  know  how 
to  become  a 
lawyer,  was 
the  one  he 
practised : 

"Gfet  books, 
and  read  and 
study  them 
carefully.  Be- 
g  i  n  with 
Blackstone's 
'C  o  m  m  en- 
tar  i  e  s,'  and 
after  reading 
carefully 
through,  say 
twice,  take  up 
C  h  i  1 1  y  '  s 
'Pleadings,' 
Greenleaf's 
'Eviden  c  e,' 
and  Story's 
'Equity,'  in 
succession. 
Work,  work, 
work,  is  the 
main  thing." 

Having  se 
cured  a  book 
of  legal  forms, 
he  was  soon 
able  to  write 
deeds,  con 
tracts,  and  all 
sorts  of  legal 


i 


instruments;  and 
he  was  frequently 
called  upon  by 
his  neighbors  to 
perform  services 
of  this  kind. 
"  In  1834,"  says 
Daniel  Green 
Burner,  Berry 
and  Lincoln's 
clerk,  ''my 
father,  Isaac 
Burner,  sold  out 
to  Henry  Onstott, 
and  he  wanted 
a  deed  written. 
I  knew  how 
handy  Lincoln 
was  that  way, 


A    MAP  MADE   BY   LINCOLN    OP    A    PIECE    OF    ROAD    IN    MENARD   COUNTY,    ILLI 
NOIS. — HITHERTO   UNPUBLISHED. 

Photographed  from  the  original  for  this  biography.  This  map,  which,  as 
here  reproduced,  is  about  one-half  the  size  of  the  original,  accompanied  Lin 
coln's  report  of  the  survey  of  a  part  of  the  road  between  Athens  and  San- 
gamon  town.  For  making  this  map,  Lincoln  received  fifty  cents.  He  received 
three  dollars  for  the  day  he  spent  in  relocating  the  road.  (See  report,"page  198.) 
The  road  evidently  was  located  "on  good  ground,"  and  was  "necessary  and 
proper,"  as  the  report  says,  for  it  is  still  the  main  travelled  highway  leading 
into  the  country  south  of  Athens.  Menard  County. 


200  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 

and  suggested  that  we  get  him.  We  found  him  sitting  on  a 
stump.  'All  right,'  said  he,  when  informed  what  we  wanted. 
'  If  you  will  bring  me  a  pen  and  ink  and  a  piece  of  paper  I  will  write 
it  here.'  I  brought  him  these  articles,  and,  picking  up  a  shingle 
and  putting  it  on  his  knee  for  a  desk,  he  wrote  out  the  deed." 

As  there  was  no  practising  lawyer  nearer  than  Springfield, 
Lincoln  was  often  employed  to  act  the  part  of  advocate  before 
the  village  squire,  at  that  time  Bowling  Green.  He  realized 
that  this  experience  was  valuable,  and  never,  so  far  as  known, 
demanded  or  accepted  a  fee  for  his  services  in  these  petty 
cases. 

Justice  was  sometimes  administered  in  a  summary  way  in 
Squire  Green's  court.  Precedents  and  the  venerable  rules  of 
law  had  little  weight.  The  "Squire"  took  judicial  notice  of  a 
great  many  facts,  often  going  so  far  as  to  fill,  simultaneously, 
the  two  functions  of  witness  and  court.  But  his  decisions  were 
generally  just. 

James  McGrady  Rutledge  tells  a  story  in  which  several  of 
Lincoln's  old  friends  figure,  and  which  illustrates  the  legal  prac 
tices  of  New  Salem.  "  Jack  Kelso,"  says  Mr.  Rutledge,  u  owned, 
or  claimed  to  own,  a  white  hog.  It  was  also  claimed  by  John 
Ferguson.  The  hog  had  often  wandered  around  Bowling  Green's 
place,  and  he  was  somewhat  acquainted  with  it.  Ferguson  sued 
Kelso,  and  the  case  was  tried  before  '  Squire '  Green.  The  plain 
tiff  produced  two  witnesses  who  testified  positively  that  the 
hog  belonged  to  him.  Kelso  had  nothing  to  offer,  save  his  own 
unsupported  claim. 

"  '  Are  there  any  more  witnesses  ? '  inquired  the  court. 

"He  was  informed  that  there  were  no  more. 

"'Well,'  said  'Squire'  Green,   'the  two  witnesses  we  have 

heard  have  sworn  to  a lie.     I  know  this  shoat,  and  I  know 

it  belongs  to  Jack  Kelso.  I  therefore  decide  this  case  in  his 
favor.'  " 

An  extract  from  the  record  of  the  County  Commissioners' 
Court  illustrates  the  nature  of  the  cases  that  came  before  the 
justice  of  the  peace  in  Lincoln's  day.  It  also  shows  the  price 
put  upon  the  privilege  of  working  on  Sunday,  in  1832  : 

"JANUARY  29,  1832.— Alexander  Gibson  found  guilty  of  Sabbath-breaking, 
and  fined  12*  cents.  Fine  paid  into  court. 

"  (Signed)  EDWARD  ROBINSON,  J.  P." 


DISTRUST  OF   YANKEES  IN  EARLY  ILLINOIS.  201 

THE  ILLINOIS    ASSEMBLY   OF   1834. 

The  session  of  the  ninth  Assembly  began  December  1,  1834, 
and  Lincoln  went  to  the  capital,  then  Yandalia,  seventy-five 
miles  southeast  of  New  Salem,  on  the  Kaskaskia  River,  in  time 
for  the  opening.  Yandalia  was  a  town  which  had  been  called 
into  existence  in  1820  especially  to  give  the  State  government 
an  abiding-place.  Its  very  name  had  been  chosen,  it  is  said, 
because  it  "  sounded  well"  for  a  State  capital.  As  the  tradi 
tion  goes,  while  the  commissioners  were  debating  what  they 
should  call  the  town  they  were  making,  a  wag  suggested  that 
it  be  named  Yandalia,  in  honor  of  the  Yandals,  a  tribe  of  In 
dians  which,  said  he,  had  once  lived  on  the  borders  of  the  Kas 
kaskia  ;  this,  he  argued,  would  conserve  a  local  tradition  while 
giving  a  euphonious  title.  The  commissioners,  pleased  with 
so  good  a  suggestion,  adopted  the  name.  When  Lincoln  first 
went  to  Yandalia  it  was  a  town  of  about  eight  hundred  inhabi 
tants  ;  its  noteworthy  features,  according  to  Peck's  "  Gazetteer" 
of  Illinois  for  1834,  being  a  brick  court-house,  a  two-story  brick 
edifice  "used  by  State  officers',"  "a  neat  framed  house  of  wor 
ship  for  the  Presbyterian  Society,  with  a  cupola  and  bell,"  "a 
framed  meeting-house  for  the  Methodist  Society,"  three  taverns, 
several  stores,  five  lawyers,  four  physicians,  a  land- office,  and 
two  newspapers.  It  was  a  much  larger  town  than  Lincoln  had 
ever  lived  in  before,  though  he  was  familiar  with  Springfield, 
then  twice  as  large  as  Yandalia,  and  he  had  seen  the  cities  of 
the  Mississippi. 

The  Assembly  which  he  entered  was  composed  of  eighty-one 
members — twenty-six  senators  and  fifty-five  representatives.  As 
a  rule,  these  men  were  of  Kentucky,  Tennessee,  or  Yirginia 
origin,  with  here  and  there  a  Frenchman.  There  were  but  few 
Eastern  men,  for  there  was  still  a  strong  prejudice  in  the  State 
against  Yankees.  The  close  bargains  and  superior  airs  of  the 
emigrants  from  New  England  contrasted  so  unpleasantly  with 
the  open-handed  hospitality  and  the  easy  ways  of  the  Southern 
ers  and  French,  that  a  pioneer's  prospects  were  blasted  at  the 
start  if  he  acted  like  a  Yankee.  A  history  of  Illinois  in  1837, 
published,  evidently,  to  "  boom  "  the.  State,  cautioned  the  emi 
grant  that  if  he  began  his  life  in  Illinois  by  "affecting  superior 
intelligence  and  virtue,  and  catechizing  the  people  for  their 
habits  of  plainness  and  simplicity,  and  their  apparent  want  of 


SURVEY   OP   A   SECTION   OF  LAND  BY   LINCOLN. — NOW 

From  the  original,  in  the  possession  of  Z.  A.  Enos,  Springfield,  Illinois.  "The  Sangamon  River  runs 
through  this  section,"  says  Mr.  Enos,  himself  a  veteran  surveyor,  "  and  the  section  lines  in  the  government  sur 
vey  were  not  extended  across,  but  closed  on  the  river,  without  any  connection  being  made  between  the  opposite 
marginal  corners  or  lines  ;  and  though  shown  on  the  government  plats  as  being  continuous  straight  east  or 
west  lines  across  the  river,  they  were,  in  fact,  surveyed  by  the  government  surveyor  as  represented  by  Mr.  Lin- 


1% 


&ST/& 


jlr/tto 


/$ 


Ml? 


H 


DESCRIPTION  OF   THE  EARLY  ILLINOIS  LEGISLATOR.    203 


those  things  which  he 
imagines  indispensable 
to  comfort,"  .he  must 
expect  to  be  forever 
marked  as  "a  Yankee," 
and  to  have  his  pros 
pects  correspondingly 
defeated.  A  "hard 
shell  ' '  Baptist  preacher 
of  this  date  showed  the 
feeling  of  the  people 
when  he  said,  in  preach 
ing  of  the  richness  of  the 
grace  of  the  Lord  :  "It 
tuks  in  the  isles  of  the 
sea  and  the  utter  must 
part  of  the  y  e  t  h .  It 
embraces  the  Esqui 
maux  and  the  Hotten 
tots,  and  some,  my  dear 
brethering,  go  so  far  as 
to  suppose  that  it  tuks 
in  the  poor  benighted 
Yankees  ;  but  /  don't 
go  that  fur. ' '  W  hen  it 
came  to  an  election  of 
legislators,  many  of  the 
people  "didn't  go  that 
fur"  either. 

There  was  a  pre 
ponderance  of  jean  suits 
like  Lincoln's  in  the 
Assembly,  and  there 
were  occasional  coon- 
skin  caps  and  buckskin 
trousers.  Nevertheless, 
more  than  one  member 
showed  a  studied  garb 
and  a  courtly  manner. 
Some  of  the  best  blood 
of  the  South  went  into 


^ 

7 


FIRST   PUBLISHED. 

coin's  plat.11  This  plat  is  also  interesting  as  "  showing,"  as  Mr. 
Enos  says,  "  how  Illinois  lands  were  valued  at  that  date,  as  indi 
cated  by  the  value  of  the  several  lots  in  the  school  section,  as  de 
termined  by  the  trustees,  and  marked  by  them  on  each  tract,  and 
at  those  estimated  values  the  lots  were  then  subject  to  purchase.11 


204  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

the  making  of  Illinois,  and  it  showed  itself  from  the  first  in  the 
Assembly.  The  surroundings  of  the  legislators  were  quite  as 
simple  as  the  attire  of  the  plainest  of  them.  The  court-house, 
in  good  old  Colonial  style,  with  square  pillars  and  belfry,  was 
finished  with  wooden  desks  and  benches.  The  State  furnished 
her  law-makers  few  perquisites  beyond  their  three  dollars  a  day. 
A  cork  inkstand,  a  certain  number  of  quills,  and  a  limited 
amount  of  stationery  were  all  the  extras  an  Illinois  legislator 
in  1834  got  from  his  position.  Scarcely  more  could  be  expected 
from  a  State  whose  revenues  from  December  1,  1834,  to  Decem 
ber  1,  1836,  were  only  about  one  hundred  and  twenty -five  thou 
sand  dollars,  with  expenditures  during  the  same  period  amount 
ing  to  less  than  one  hundred  and  sixty-five  thousand  dollars. 

Lincoln  thought  little  of  these  things,  no  doubt.  To  him  the 
absorbing  interest  was  the  men  he  met.  To  get  acquainted  with 
them,  measure  them,  compare  himself  with  them,  and  discover 
wherein  they  were  his  superiors  and  what  he  could  do  to  make 
good  his  deficiency — this  was  his  chief  occupation.  The  men  he 
met  were  good  subjects  for  such  study.  Among  them  were  Will 
iam  L.  D.  Ewing,  Jesse  K.  Dubois,  Stephen  T.  Logan,  Thomas 
Ford,  and  Governor  Duncan — men  destined  to  play  large  parts 
in  the  history  of  the  State.  One  whom  he  met  that  winter  in 
Vandalia  was  destined  to  play  a  great  part  in  the  history  of  the 
nation — the  Democratic  candidate  for  the  office  of  State  attorney 
for  the  first  judicial  district  of  Illinois — a  man  four  years  younger 
than  Lincoln  (he  was  only  twenty-one  at  the  time) ;  a  new-comer, 
too,  in  the  State,  having  arrived  about  a  year  before,  under  no 
very  promising  auspices  either,  for  he  had  only  thirty-seven 
cents  in  his  pockets,  and  no  position  in  view ;  but  a  man  of 
metal,  it  was  easy  to  see,  for  already  he  had  risen  so  high  in  the 
district  where  he  had  settled,  that  he  dared  contest  the  office  of 
State  attorney  with  John  J.  Hardin,  one  of  the  most  successful 
lawyers  of  the  State.  This  young  man  was  Stephen  A.  Douglas. 
He  had  come  to  Vandalia  from  Morgan  County  to  conduct  his 
campaign,  and  Lincoln  met  him  first  in  the  halls  of  the  old  court 
house,  where  he  and  his  friends  carried  on  with  success  their 
contest  against  Hardin. 

The  ninth  Assembly  gathered  in  a  more  hopeful  and  ambitious 
mood  than  any  of  its  predecessors.  Illinois  was  feeling  well. 
The  State  was  free  from  debt.  The  Black  Hawk  War  had  stim 
ulated  the  people  greatly,  for  it  had  brought  a  large  amount  of 


LINCOLN    IN    1861.      NOW   FIRST   PUBLISHED. 

From  a  photograph  loaned  by  Mr.  Frank  A.  Brown  of  Minneapolis,  Min 
nesota.  This  beautiful  photograph  was  taken,  probably  early  in  1861,  by 
Alexander  Hesler  of  Chicago.  It  was  used  by  Leonard  W.  Volk,  the  sculptor, 
in  his  studies  of  Lincoln. 


206  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 

money  into  circulation.  In  fact,  the  greater  portion  of  the  eight 
to  ten  million  dollars  the  war  had  cost,  had  been  circulated  among 
the  Illinois  volunteers.  Immigration,  too,  was  increasing  at  a 
bewildering  rate.  In  1835  the  census  showed  a  population  of 
269,974.  Between  1830  and  1835  two-fifths  of  this  number  had 
come  in.  In  the  northeast,  Chicago  had  begun  to  rise.  "Even 
for  Western  towns  "  its  growth  had  been  unusually  rapid,  declared 
Peck's  u  Gazetteer"  of  1834  ;  the  harbor  building  there,  the  pro 
posed  Michigan  and  Illinois  canal,  the  rise  in  town  lots — all  prom 
ised  to  the  State  a  great  metropolis.  To  meet  the  rising  tide  of 
prosperity,  the  legislators  of  1834  felt  that  they  must  devise  some 
worthy  scheme,  so  they  chartered  a  new  State  bank,  with  a  capi 
tal  of  one  million  five  hundred  thousand  dollars,  and  revived  a 
bank  which  had  broken  twelve  years  before,  granting  it  a  charter 
of  three  hundred  thousand  dollars.  There  was  no  surplus  money 
in  the  State  to  supply  the  capital ;  there  were  no  trained  bankers 
to  guide  the  concern ;  there  was  no  clear  notion  of  how  it  was 
all  to  be  done  ;  but  a  banking  capital  of  one  million  eight  hun 
dred  thousand  dollars  would  be  a  good  thing  in  the  State,  they 
were  sure ;  and  if  the  East  could  be  made  to  believe  in  Illinois 
as  much  as  her  legislators  believed  in  her,  the  stocks  would  go  ; 
and  so  the  banks  were  chartered. 

But  even  more  important  to  the  State  than  banks  was  a  high 
way.  For  thirteen  years  plans  of  the  Illinois  and  Michigan  canal 
had  been  constantly  before  the  Assembly.  Surveys  had  been 
ordered,  estimates  reported,  the  advantages  extolled,  but  noth 
ing  had  been  done.  Now,  however,  the  Assembly,  flushed  by 
the  first  thrill  of  the  coming  "  boom,"  decided  to  authorize  a  loan 
of  a  half-million  on  the  credit  of  the  State.  Lincoln  favored  both 
these  measures.  He  did  not,  however,  do  anything  especially 
noteworthy  for  either  of  the  bills,  nor  was  the  record  he  made  in 
other  directions  at  all  remarkable.  He  was  placed  on  the  com 
mittee  of  public  accounts  and  expenditures,  and  attended  meet 
ings  with  great  fidelity.  His  first  act  as  a  member  was  to  give 
notice  that  he  would  ask  leave  to  introduce  a  bill  limiting  the 
jurisdiction  of  justices  of  the  peace— a  measure  which  he  suc 
ceeded  in  carrying  through.  He  followed  this  by  a  motion  to 
change  the  rules,  so  that  it  should  not  be  in  order  to  offer  amend 
ments  to  any  bill  after  the  third  reading,  which  was  not  agreed 
to ;  though  the  same  rule,  in  effect,  was  adopted  some  years 
later,  and  is  to  this  day  in  force  in  both  branches  of  the  Illinois 


<«*&>•    £*Z    /M*&*<*^ 

/     *  & 

^,^.  Yf^- 


31 AP   OF   ALBANY,    ILLINOIS.      MADE   BY   LINCOLN. — HITHERTO   UNPUBLISHED. 

The  original  of  this  plat  is  owned  by  Mr.  J.  Davidson  Burns  of  Kalamazoo,  Michigan,  to  whose  courtesy  we  owe  the 

right  of  reproduction. 


208  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 

Assembly.  He  next  made  a  motion  to  take  from  the  table  a 
report  which  had  been  submitted  by  his  committee,  which  met  a 
like  fate.  His  first  resolution,  relating  to  a  State  revenue  to  be 
derived  from  the  sales  of  the  public  lands,  was  denied  a  refer 
ence,  and  laid  upon  the  table.  Neither  as  a  speaker  nor  as  an 
organizer  did  he  make  any  especial  impression  on  the  body. 


CHAPTER    XVIII. 

LINCOLN'S  FIRST  ACQUAINTANCE  WITH  ANN  RUTLEDGE.— THE  STORY 

OF  THEIR  LOVE. 


N  the  spring  of  1835  the  young  representative  from 
Sangamon  returned  to  New  Salem  to  take  up  his 
duties  as  postmaster  and  deputy  surveyor,  and 
to  resume  his  law  studies.  He  exchanged  his 
rather  exalted  position  for  the  humbler  one,  Avith 
a  light  heart.  New  Salem  held  all  that  was  dear 
est  in  the  world  to  him  at  that  moment,  and  he 
went  back  to  the  poor  little  town  with  a  hope, 
which  he  had  once  supposed  honor  forbade  his 
acknowledging  even  to  himself,  glowing  warmly  in  his  heart. 
He  loved  a  young  girl  of  the  village,  and  now  for  the  first  time, 
though  he  had  known  her  since  he  first  came  to  New  Salem,  was 
he  free  to  tell  his  love. 

One  of  the  most  prominent  families  of  the  settlement  in  1831, 
when  Lincoln  first  appeared  there,  was  that  of  James  Rutledge. 
The  head  of  the  house  was  one  of  the  founders  of  New  Salem, 
and  at  that  time  the  keeper  of  the  village  tavern.  He  was  a 
high-minded  man,  of  a  warm  and  generous  nature,  and  had  the 
universal  respect  of  the  community.  He  was  a  South  Carolinian 
by  birth,  but  had  lived  many  years  in  Kentucky  before  coming 
to  Illinois.  Rutledge  came  of  a  distinguished  family  :  one  of  his 
ancestors  signed  the  Declaration  of  Independence ;  another  was 
Chief  Justice  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States  by 
appointment  of  Washington,  and  another  was  a  conspicuous 
leader  in  the  American  Congress. 

The  third  of  the  nine  children  in  the  Rutledge  household  was 
a  daughter,  Ann  Mayes,  born  in  Kentucky,  January  7,  1813. 


ABRAHAM   LINCOLN   IN   1858. 

From  an  ambrotype  owned  by  Miss  Hattie  Gilmer  of  Pittsfield,  Illinois.    The  Gilmer  ambrotype  was  taken  by  C.  Jack 
son,  in  Pittefield,  October  1,  1858,  during  the  Lincoln  and  Douglas  campaign,  immediately  after  Lincoln  had  made  a  speech  in 
the  public  square.    Lincoln  was  the  guest  of  his  friend  D.  H.  Gilmer,  a  lawyer.    He  sat  for  two  pictures,  one  of  which  was 
finished  for  Mr.  Gilmer.    The  other  picture  is  supposed  to  have  been  destroyed. 
14 


ANN  RUTLEDGE'S  BEAUTY  AND   GENTLENESS.        211 


When  Lincoln  first  met  her  she  was  nineteen  years  old,  and  as 
fresh  as  a  flower.  Many  of  those  who  knew  her  at  that  time 
have  left  tributes  to  her  beauty  and  gentleness,  and  even  to-day 
there  are  those  living  who  talk  of  her  with  moistened  eyes  and 
softened  tones.  "She  was  a  beautiful  girl,"  says  her  cousin, 
James  McGrady  Rutledge,  "and  as  bright  as  she  was  pretty. 
She  was  well  educated  for  that  early  day,  a  good  conversation 
alist,  and  always  gentle  and  cheerful ;  a  girl  whose  company 
people  liked."  So  fair  a  maid  was  not,  of  course,  without 
suitors.  The  most  determined  of  those  who  sought  her  hand  was 
one  John  McNeill,  a  young  man  who  had  arrived  in  New  Salem 
from  New  York  soon  after 
the  founding  of  the  town. 
Nothing  was  known  of  his 
antecedents,  and  no  ques 
tions  were  asked.  He  was 
understood  to  be  merely  one 
of  the  thousands  who  had 
come  West  in  search  of  for 
tune.  That  he  was  intelli 
gent,  industrious,  and  frugal, 
with  a  good  head  for  busi 
ness,  was  at  once  apparent ; 
for  he  and  Samuel  Hill 
opened  a  general  store,  and 
they  soon  doubled  their 
capital,  and  their  business 
continued  to  grow  remark 
ably.  In  four  years  from 

his  first  appearance  in  the  settlement,  besides  having  a  half- 
interest  in  the  store,  McNeill  owned  a  large  farm  a  few  miles 
north  of  New  Salem.  His  neighbors  believed  him  to  be  worth 
about  twelve  thousand  dollars. 


TWO   NEW   SALEM   CHAIRS. 


Now  owned  by  Mrs.  Samuel  Hill,  Petersburg,  Illinois. 


RTJTLEDGE'S  ENGAGEMENT  TO  JOHN  MCNEILL. 


John  McNeill  was  an  unmarried  man  —  at  least  so  he  represented 
himself  to  be  —  and  very  soon  after  becoming  a  resident  of  New 
Salem  he  formed  the  acquaintance  of  Ann  Rutledge,  then  a  girl 
of  seventeen.  It  was  a  case  of  love  at  first  sight,  and  the  two 
soon  became  engaged,  in  spite  of  the  rivalry  of  Samuel  Hill, 


212 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 


McNeil!' s  partner.  But 
Ann  was  as  yet  only  a 
young  girl ;  and  it  was 
thought  very  sensible  in 
her,  and  very  gracious  and 
considerate  in  her  lover, 
that  both  acquiesced  in 
the  wishes  of  Ann's  par 
ents  that,  for  some  time, 
at  least,  the  marriage  be 
postponed. 

Such  was  the  situation 
when  Lincoln  appeared  in 
New  Salem.  He  naturally 
soon  became  acquainted 
with  the  girl.  She  was  a 
pupil  in  Mentor  Graham's 
school,  where  he  fre- 
q  u  e  n  1 1  y  visited,  and 
rumor  says  that  he  first 
met  her  there.  However 
that  may  be,  it  is  certain 
that  in  the  latter  part  of 
1832  he  went  to  board  at 
the  Rutledge  tavern,  and 
there  was  thrown  daily 
into  her  company. 

During  the  next  year, 
1833,  John  McNeill,  in 
spite  of  his  fair  prospects, 
became  restless  and  dis 
contented.  He  wanted  to 
see  his  people,  he  said,  and 
before  the  end  of  the  year 
he  had  decided  to  go  East 
for  a  visit.  To  secure  per 
fect  freedom  from  his 
business  while  gone,  he 
sold  out  his  interest  in  the 
store.  To  Ann  he  said 
that  he  hoped  to  bring 


MAJOR    JOHN    T.    STUART,    THE     MAN    WHO    INDUCED    LIN 
COLN  TO  STUDY  LAW. 

After  a  photograph  owned  by  his  widow,  Mary  Nash 
Stuart,  Springfield,  Illinois.  John  T.  Stuart  was  born  in 
Fayette  County,  Kentucky,  seven  miles  east  of  Lexington, 
November  10,  1807.  He  was  a  son  of  Robert  Stuart,  a  Pres 
byterian  minister,  and  professor  of  languages  in  Transyl 
vania  University.  His  mother's  maiden  name  was  Hannah 
Todd.  She  was  a  daughter  of  General  Levi  Todd,  and  a 
sister  of  Robert  S.  Todd,  the  father  of  Mrs.  Abraham 
Lincoln.  John  T.  Stuart  graduated  at  Center  College,  Dan 
ville,  Kentucky,  in  1826,  and  after  studying  law  in  Rich 
mond,  Kentucky,  he  went  to  Springfield,  Illinois.  This  was 
in  1828.  Here  he  at  once  began  the  practice  of  the  law.  In 
the  Black  Hawk  War  he  was  major  of  the  battalion  in  which 
Lincoln  commanded  a  company,  and  here  his  acquaintance 
with  Lincoln  seems  to  have  been  formed.  In  1832  he  was 
elected  a  representative  in  the  State  legislature,  and  was 
reflected  in  1834.  In  1836  he  was  an  unsuccessful  Whig 
candidate  for  Congress.  Two  years  later  he  was  again  a 
candidate,  and  this  time  was  elected,  defeating  Stephen  A. 
Douglas.  He  was  reflected  in  1840.  Lincoln,  upon  his  re 
moval  to  Springfield  in  the  spring  of  1837,  became  Major 
Stuart's  law  partner.  The  partnership  continued  until  April 
14, 1841,  when  Lincoln  became  the  partner  of  Judge  Stephen 
T.  Logan.  For  many  years  Major  Stuart  was  the  senior 
member  of  the  law  firm  of  Stuart,  Edwards  and  Brown,  the 
two  other  members  being  Benjamin  S.  Edwards  and  Chris 
topher  C.  Brown.  In  1837,  at  Jacksonville,  Illinois,  he  was 
married  to  Mary  V.  Nash,  who  is  still  living.  Major  Stuart 
died  in  1885. 


DISAPPEARANCE  OF  ANN  RUTLEDGE'S  FIRST  LOVER.  213 


back  his  father  and  mother,  and  to  place  them  on  his  farm. 
"  This  duty  done,"  was  his  farewell  word,  "you  and  I  will  be 
married."  In  the  spring  of  1834  McNeill  started  East.  The 
journey  overland  by  foot  and  horse  was  in  those  days  a  trying 
one,  and  on  the  way  McNeill  fell  ill  with  chills  and  fever.  It 
was  late  in  the  summer  before  he  reached  his  home  and  wrote 
back  to  Ann,  explaining  his  silence.  The  long  wait  had  been 
a  severe  strain  on  the  girl,  and  Lincoln  had  watched  her  anxiety 
with  softened  heart.  It  was  to  him,  the  New  Salem  postmaster, 
that  she  came  to  inquire  for  letters.  It  was  to  him  she  entrusted 
those  she  sent.  In  a  way  the  postmaster  must  have  become  the 
girl's  confidant  ;  and  his  tender  heart,  which  never  could  resist 
suffering,  must  have  been  deeply  touched.  After  the  long  silence 
was  broken,  and  McMell's  first  letter  of  explanation  came,  the 
cause  of  anxiety  seemed  removed  ;  but,  strangely  enough,  other 
letters  followed  only  at  long  intervals,  and  finally  they  ceased 
altogether.  Then  it  was  that  the  young  girl  told  her  friends  a 
secret  which  McNiell  had  confided  to  her  before  leaving  New 
Salem. 

He  had  told  her  what  she  had  never  even  suspected  before, 
that  John  McNeill  was 
not  his  real  name,  but 
that  it  was  John  Mc- 
Namar.  Shortly  before 
he  came  to  New  Salem, 
he  explained,  his  father 
had  suffered  a  disastrous 
failure  in  business.  He 
was  the  oldest  son  ;  and 
in  the  hope  of  retrieving 
the  lost  fortune,  he  re 
solved  to  go  West,  ex 
pecting  to  return  in  a 
few  years  and  share  his 
riches  with  the  rest  of 
the  family.  Anticipat 
ing  parental  opposition, 
he  ran  away  from  home  ; 
and,  being  sure  that  he 
could  never  accumulate  A  WAYSIDE  WELL  NEAR  NEW  8ALEMi 

anything  With  SO  niimer-  RUTLBDGB'S  WELL." 


214  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 

ous  a  family  to  support,  he  endeavored  to  lose  himself  by  a 
change  of  name.  All  this  Ann  had  believed  and  not  repeated  ; 
but  now,  worn  out  by  waiting,  she  took  her  secret  to  her  friends. 
With  few  exceptions,  they  pronounced  the  story  a  fabrication 
and  McNamar  an  impostor.  Why  had  he  worn  this  mask  ?  His 
excuse  seemed  flimsy.  At  best,  they  declared,  he  was  a  mere 
adventurer  ;  and  was  it  not  more  probable  that  he  was  a  fugitive 
from  justice — a  thief,  a  swindler,  or  a  murderer?  And  who  knew 
how  many  wives  he  might  have  ?  With  all  New  Salem  declaring 
John  McNamar  false,  Ann  Rutledge  could  hardly  be  blamed  for 
imagining  that  he  either  was  dead  or  that  he  had  ceased  to  love 
her. 

ANN'S   ENGAGEMENT   TO   LINCOLN. 

It  was  not  until  McNeill,  or  McNamar,  had  been  gone  many 
months,  and  gossip  had  become  offensive,  that  Lincoln  ventured 
to  show  his  love  for  Ann,  and  then  it  was  a  long  time  before  the 
girl  would  listen  to  his  suit.  Convinced  at  last,  however,  that 
her  former  lover  had  deserted  her,  she  yielded  to  Lincoln's  wishes, 
and  promised,  in  the  spring  of  1835,  soon  after  Lincoln's  return 
from  Yandalia,  to  become  his  wife.  But  Lincoln  had  nothing  on 
which  to  support  a  family — indeed,  he  found  it  no  trifling  task 
to  support  himself.  As  for  Ann,  she  was  anxious  to  go  to  school 
another  year.  It  was  decided  that  in  the  autumn  she  should  go 
with  her  brother  to  Jacksonville  and  spend  the  winter  there  in 
an  academy.  Lincoln  was  to  devote  himself  to  his  law  studies  ; 
and  the  next  spring,  when  she  returned  from  school  and  he  was 
a  member  of  the  bar,  they  were  to  be  married. 

A  happy  spring  and  summer  followed.  New  Salem  took  a 
cordial  interest  in  the  two  lovers,  and  presaged  a  happy  life  for 
them  ;  and  all  would  undoubtedly  have  gone  well  if  the  young 
girl  could  have  dismissed  the  haunting  memory  of  her  old  lover. 
The  possibility  that  she  had  wronged  him  ;  that  he  might  reap 
pear  ;  that  he  loved  her  still,  though  she  now  loved  another  ;  that 
perhaps  she  had  done  wrong — a  torturing  conflict  of  memory, 
love,  conscience,  doubt,  and  morbidness  lay  like  a  shadow  across 
her  happiness,  and  wore  upon  her  until  she  fell  ill.  Gradually 
her  condition  became  hopeless  ;  and  Lincoln,  who  had  been  shut 
from  her,  was  sent  for.  The  lovers  passed  an  hour  alone  in  an 
anguished  parting,  and  soon  after,  on  August  25,  1835,  Ann 
died. 


LINCOLN   IN   1858. 

After  a  photograph  owned  by  Mrs.  Harriet  Chapman  of  Charleston,  Illinois.  Mrs.  Chapman  is  a  grand 
daughter  of  Sarah  Bush  Lincoln,  Lincoln's  step-mother!  Her  son,  Mr.  K.  N.  Chapman  of  Charleston, 
Illinois,  writes  us  :  "  In  1858  Lincoln  and  Douglas  had  a  series  of  joint  debates  in  this  State,  and  this  city 
was  one  place  of  meeting.  Mr.  Lincoln's  step-mother  was  making  her  home  with  my  father  and  mother  at 
that  time.  Mr.  Lincoln  stopped  at  our  house,  and  as  he  was  going  away  my  mother  said  to  him  :  '  Uncle 
Abe,  I  want  a  picture  of  you.'  He  replied,  '  Well,  Harriet,  when  I  get  home  I  will  have  one  taken  for  you 
and  send  it  to  you.'  Soon  after,  mother  received  the  photograph,  which  she  still  has,  already  framed,  from 
Springfield,  Illinois,  with  a  letter  from  Mr.  Lincoln,  in  which  he  said,  '  This  is  not  a  very  good-looking 
picture,  but  it's  the  best  that  could  be  produced  from  the  poor  subject.'  He  also  said  that  he  had  it  taken 
solely  for  my  mother.  The  photograph  is  still  in  its  original  frame,  and  I  am  sure  is  the  most  perfect  and 
best  picture  of  Lincoln  in  existence.  We  suppose  it  must  have  been  taken  in  Springfield,  Illinois." 


FACSI3IILE   OF  A  LEGAL  OPINION  BY  LINCOLN.— NOW  FIRST   PUBLISHED. 

From  the  original,  in  the  possession  of  Z.  A.  Enos,  Springfield,  Illinois.  In  a  convention  of  surveyors,  held  at  Spring 
field  in  1859,  the  question  was  much  discussed  whether  the  act  of  Congress  of  February  11,  1805.  relating  to  surveys,  was 
intended  to  control  all  future  surveys  and  subdivisions  of  the  government  lands.  It  was  decided  to  submit  the  question 
to  a  lawyer  for  an  opinion.  Mr.  Lincoln  was  selected,  for  the  reason  not  only  that  he  was  a  lawyer  of  recognized  ability, 
but  also  because  he  had  been  a  practical  surveyor.  A  committee  having  waited  upon  him,  he  wrote  out  the  opinion  of 
which  a  facsimile  is  here  presented.  Mr.  Enos,  who  holds  the  original  document,  was  an  active  participant  in  the  con 
vention  to  which  this  opinion  was  rendered. 


LINCOLN'S  GRIEF  AT  ANN  RUTLEDGE1  S  DEATH.        217 


The  death  of  Ann  Rutledge 
plunged  Lincoln  into  the  deepest 
gloom.  That  abiding  melan 
choly,  that  painful  sense  of  the 
incompleteness  of  life,  which 
had  been  his  mother's  dowry  to 
him,  asserted  itself.  It  filled 
and  darkened  his  mind  and  his 
imagination,  tortured  him  with 
its  black  pictures.  One  stormy 
night  he  was  sitting  beside  Will 
iam  Greene,  his  head  bowed  on 
his  hand,  while  tears  trickled 
through  his  fingers  ;  his  friend 
begged  him  to  control  his  sorrow, 
to  try  to  forget.  "I  cannot," 
moaned  Lincoln  ;  "the  thought 

Of  the  SnOW  and  rain  OI1  her  grave        JAMES   MOGRADY  RUTLEDGE,  A  COUSIN  OF  ANN 

fills  me  with  indescribable  grief." 

He  was  found  walking  alone 
by  the  river  and  through  the 
woods,  muttering  strange  things 
to  himself.  He  seemed  to  his 
friends  to  be  in  the  shadow  of  mad 
ness.  They  kept  a  close  watch 
over  him  ;  and  at  last  Bowling 
Green,  one  of  the  most  devoted 
friends  Lincoln  then  had,  took 
him  home  to  his  little  log  cabin, 
half  a  mile  north  of  New  Salem, 
under  the  brow  of  a  big  bluff. 

Here,  under  the  loving  care  of 
Green  and  his  good  wife  Nancy, 
Lincoln  remained  until  he  was  once  more  master  of  himself. 

But  though  he  had  regained  self-control,  his  grief  was  deep  and 
bitter.  Ann  Rutledge  was  buried  in  Concord  cemetery,  a  country 
bury  ing-ground  seven  miles  northwest  of  New  Salem.  To  this 
lonely  spot  Lincoln  frequently  journeyed  to  weep  over  her  grave. 
"  My  heart  is  buried  there,"  he  said  to  one  of  his  friends. 

When  McNamar  returned  (for  McNamar's  story  was  true,  and, 
two  months  after  Ann  Kutledge  died,  he  drove  into  New  Salem, 


RUTLEDGE. 

James  McGrady  Rutledge,  son  of  William 
Rutledge,  is  now  past  eighty-one  years  of  age, 
having  been  born  in  Kentucky,  September  29, 
1814.  He  is  now  a  resident  of  Petersburg.  He  is 
active  and  remarkably  free  from  the  infirmities  of 
age.  When  a  boy,  with  a  yoke  of  oxen,  he  hauled 
the  logs  for  the  construction  of  the  mill  and  the 
dam  at  New  Salem  and  for  some  of  the  cabins  of 
the  village.  "  '  Rile  '  Clary  and  I  carried  chain 
for  Lincoln  many  a  time,''  he  says;  '"Rile1 
going  foremost  and  I  following.  We  became  ac 
customed  to  it  and  Lincoln  preferred  us.1"  Ann 
Rutledge  and  her  cousin  were  nearly  the  same  age, 
and  being  thoroughly  congenial,  she  made  a  con 
fidant  of  him.  They  were  much  in  each  other's 
company,  and  Ann  often  talked  to  him  of  Lin 
coln.  "  Everybody  was  happy  with  Ann,"1  says 
Mr.  Rutledge.  "  She  was  of  a  cheerful  disposi 
tion,  seeming  to  enjoy  life,  and  helping  others 
enjoy  it." 


218 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 


with  his  widowed  mother  and  his  brothers  and  sisters  in  the 
" prairie  schooner"  beside  him)  and  learned  of  Ann's  death,  he 
"  saw  Lincoln  at  the  post-office,"  as  he  afterward  said,  and  "  he 
seemed  desolate  and  sorely  distressed."  On  himself,  apparently, 
her  death  produced  no  deep  impression.  Within  a  year  he  mar 
ried  another  woman ;  and  his  conduct  toward  Ann  Rutledge  is 
to  this  day  a  mystery. 

Many  years  ago  a  sister  of  Ann  Rutledge,  Mrs.  Jeane  Berry, 
told  what  she  knew  of  Ann's  love  affairs  ;  and  her  statement 
has  been  preserved  in  a  diary  kept  by  the  Rev.  R.  D.  Miller,  now 
Superintendent  of  Schools  of  Menard  County,  with  whom  she 
had  the  conversation.  She  declared  that  Ann's  "  whole  soul 
seemed  wrapped  up  in  Lincoln,"  and  that  they  "  would  have 
been  married  in  the  fall  or  early  winter"  if  Ann  had  lived. 
"After  Ann  died,"  said  Mrs.  Berry,  "I  remember  that  it  was 
common  talk  about  how  sad  Lincoln  was  ;  and  I  remember  my 
self  how  sad  he  looked.  They  told  me  that  every  time  he  was 
in  the  neighborhood  after  she  died,  he  would  go  alone  to  her 
grave  and  sit  there  in  silence  for  hours." 

In  later  life,  when  his  sorrow  had  become  a  memory,  he  told 
a  friend  who  questioned  him  :  "I  really  and  truly  loved  the  girl 
and  think  often  of  her  now."  There  was  a  pause,  and  then  he 
added:  "  And  I  have  loved  the  name  of  Rutledge  to  this  day." 


CHAPTER    XIX. 


ABRAHAM   LIXCOLX   AT   TWENTY-SIX  YEARS   OF    AGE. 


HEN  the  death  of  Ann  Rutledge  came  upon 
Lincoln,  for  a  time  threatening  to  destroy 
his  ambition  and  blast  his  life,  he  was  in 
a  most  encouraging  position.  Master  of  a 
profession  in  which  he  had  an  abundance 
of  work  and  earned  fair  wages  ;  hopeful 
of  being  admitted  in  a  few  months  to  the 
bar ;  a  member  of  the  State  Assembly,  with 
every  reason  to  believe  that,  if  he  desired 

it,   his   constituency  would   return   him  —  few  men  are  as  far 
advanced  at  twenty-six  as  was  Abraham  Lincoln. 


LINCOLN'S  INTELLECTUAL  POWER  AT  TWENTY-SIX.    219 


iiiiii 


CONCORD  CEMETERY.— WHERE   ANN  RUTLEDGE  WAS  BURIED. 

From  a  photograph  by  C.  S.  McCullough,  Petersburg,  Illinois.  Concord  cemetery  lies 
seven  miles  northwest  of  the  old  town  of  New  Salem,  in  a  secluded  place,  surrounded  by  woods 
and  pastures,  away  from  the  world.  In  this  lonely  spot  Ann  Rutledge  was  at  first  laid  to  rest. 
Thither  Lincoln  is  said  often  to  have  gone  alone,  and  "sat  in  silence  for  hours  at  a  time ;  "  and 
it  was  to  Ann  Rutledge's  grave  here  that  he  pointed  and  said:  "There  my  heart  lies  buried.1' 
The  old  cemetery  suffered  the  melancholy  fate  of  New  Salem.  It  became  a  neglected,  deserted 
spot.  The  graves  were  lost  in  weeds,  and  a  heavy  growth  of  trees  kept  out  the  sun  and  filled 
the  place  with  gloom.  A  dozen  years  ago  this  picture  was  taken.  It  was  a  blustery  day  in  the 
autumn,  and  the  weeds  and  trees  were  swaying  before  a  furious  gale.  No  other  picture  of  the 
place,  taken  while  Ann  Rutledge  was  buried  there,  is  known  to  be  in  existence.  A  picture  of  a  cem 
etery,  with  the  name  of  Ann  Rutledge  on  a  high,  flat  tombstone,  has  been  published  in  two  or 
three  books;  but  it  is  not  genuine,  the  "stone"  being  nothing  more  than  a  board  improvised 
for  the  occasion.  The  grave  of  Ann  Rutledge  was  never  honored  with  a  stone  until  the  body 
was  taken  up  in  1890  and  removed  to  Oakland  cemetery,  a  mile  southwest  of  Petersburg. 

Intellectually  he  was  far  better  equipped  than  he  believed 
himself  to  be,  better  than  he  has  ordinarily  been  credited  with 
being.  True,  he  had  had  no  conventional  college  training,  but  he 
had  by  his  own  efforts  attained  the  chief  result  of  all  preparatory 
study,  the  ability  to  take  hold  of  a  subject  and  assimilate  it. 
The  fact  that  in  six  weeks  he  had  acquired  enough  of  the  science 
of  surveying  to  enable  him  to  serve  as  deputy  surveyor  shows 
how  well  trained  his  mind  was.  The  power  to  grasp  a  large  sub- 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 


ject  quickly  and  fully  is  never 
an  accident.  The  nights  Lin 
coln  spent  in  Gentryville,  lying 
on  the  floor  in  front  of  the  fire, 
figuring  on  the  fire-shovel  ;  the 
hours  he  passed  in  poring  over 
the  Statutes  of  Indiana ;  the 
days  he  wrestled  with  Kirk- 
ham's  Grammar,  alone  made 
the  mastery  of  Flint  and  Gibson 
possible.  His  struggle  with 
Flint  and  Gibson  made  easier 
the  volumes  he  borrowed  from 
Major  Stuart's  law  library. 

Lincoln  had  a  mental  trait 
which  explains  his  rapid 
growth  in  mastering  subjects — 
seeing  clearly  was  essential  to 
him.  He  was  unable  to  *put  a 
question  aside  until  he  under 
stood  it.  It  pursued  him,  irri 
tated  him,  until  solved.  Even 
in  his  Gentryville  days  his  com 
rades  noted  that  he  was  con 
stantly  searching  for  reasons 
and  that  he  "  explained  so 
clearly."  This  characteristic 

became  stronger  with  years.  He  was  unwilling  to  pronounce 
himself  on  any  subject  until  he  understood  it,  and  he  could  not 
let*  it  alone  until  he  had  reached  a  conclusion  which  satisfied 
him. 

This  seeing  clearly  became  a  splendid  force  in  Lincoln  ;  because 
when  he  once  had  reached  a  conclusion  he  had  the  honesty  of 
soul  to  suit  his  actions  to  it.  No  consideration  could  induce  him 
to  abandon  the  course  his  reason  told  him  was  logical.  Not  that 
he  was  obstinate,  and  having  taken  a  position,  would  not  change 
it  if  he  saw  on  further  study  that  he  was  wrong.  In  his  first 
circular  to  the  people  of  Sangamon  County  is  this  characteristic 
passage :  "Upon  the  subjects  I  have  treated,  I  have  spoken  as  I 
thought.  I  may  be  wrong  in  any  or  all  of  them  ;  but,  holding  it 
a  sound  maxim  that  it  is  better  only  sometimes  to  be  right  than 


JOSEPH  DUNCAN,  GOVERNOR  OF  ILLINOIS  DURING 
LINCOLN'S  FIRST  TERM  IN  THE  LEGISLATURE. 

Joseph  Duncan,  Governor  of  Illinois  from  1834 
to  1838,  was  born  in  Kentucky  in  1794.  The  son  of 
an  officer  of  the  regular  army,  he  at  nineteen  be 
came  a  soldier  in  the  war  of  1812,  and  did  gallant 
service.  He  removed  to  Illinois  in  1818,  and  soon 
became  prominent  in  the  State,  serving  as  a  major- 
general  of  militia,  a  State  Senator,  and  from  1826 
to  1834  as  a  member  of  Congress,  resigning  from 
Congress  to  take  the  office  of  Governor.  He  was  at 
first  a  Democrat,  but  afterwards  became  a  Whig. 
He  was  a  man  of  the  highest  character  and  public 
spirit.  He  died  in  1844. 


LINCOLN'S  POWER   OF>  IMMEDIATE  ACTION. 


221 


at  all  times  to  be  wrong, 
so  soon  as  I  discover  my 
opinions  to  be  erroneous, 
I  shall  be  ready  to  re 
nounce  them." 

Joined  to  these  strong 
mental  and  moral  quali 
ties  was  that  power  of 
immediate  action  which 
so  often  explains  why  one 
man  succeeds  in  life  while 
another  of  equal  intelli 
gence  and  uprightness 
fails.  As  soon  as  Lincoln 
saw  a  thing  to  do  he  did 
it.  He  wants  to  know ; 
here  is  a  book — it  may  be 
a  biography,  a  volume  of 
dry  statutes,  a  collection 
of  verse ;  no  matter,  he 
reads  and  ponders  it  until 
he  has  absorbed  all  it  has 
for  him.  He  is  eager  to 

see  the  world  ;  a  man  offers  him  a  position  as  a  "  hand "  on  a 
Mississippi  flatboat ;  he  takes  it  without  a  moment's  hesitation 
over  the  toil  and  exposure  it  demands.  John  Calhoun  is  willing 
to  make  him  a  deputy  surveyor ;  he  knows  nothing  of  the 
science  ;  in  six  weeks  he  has  learned  enough  to  begin  his  labors. 
Sangamon  County  must  have  representatives  ;  why  not  he  ?  And 
his  circular  goes  out.  Ambition  alone  will  not  explain  this  power 
of  instantaneous  action.  It  comes  largely  from  that  active  imagi 
nation  which,  when  a  new  relation  or  position  opens,  seizes  on  all 
its  possibilities  and  from  them  creates  a  situation  so  real  that  one 
enters  with  confidence  upon  what  seems  to  the  unimaginative  the 
rashest  undertaking.  Lincoln  saw  the  possibilities  in  things,  and 
immediately  appropriated  them. 

But  the  position  he  filled  in  Sangamon  County  in  1835  was 
not  all  due  to  these  qualities ;  much  was  due  to  his  personal 
charm.  By  all  accounts  he  was  big,  awkward,  ill-clad,  shy  ;  yet 
his  sterling  honor,  his  unselfish  nature,  his  heart  of  the  true 
gentleman,  inspired  respect  and  confidence.  Men  might  laugh 


DR.    FRANCIS   REGNIER. 

From  a  painting  owned  by  his  daughter,  Mrs.  N.  W. 
Branson,  Petersburg,  Illinois.  Dr.  Regnier  was  one  of  the 
New  Salem  physicians.  He  lived  in  the  place  until  most  of 
its  inhabitants  had  deserted  it,  and  then  removed  to  Peters 
burg.  He  was  for  many  years  a  leading  citizen  in  the  com 
munity.  He  died  in  1858. 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 


GRAVE  OF  ANN  RUTLEDGE  IN  OAKLAND   CEMETERY. 

From  a  photograph  made  for  this  work  by  C.  S.  McCullough,  Petersburg,  Illinois,  in  September,  1895. 
On  the  15th  of  May,  1890,  the  remains  of  Ann  Rutledge  were  removed  from  the  long-neglected  grave  in  the 
Concord  graveyard  to  a  new  and  picturesque  burying-ground  a  mile  southwest  of  Petersburg,  called  Oak 
land  cemetery.  The  old  grave,  though  marked  by  no  stone,  was  easily  identified  from  the  fact  that  Ann 
was  buried  by  the  side  of  her  younger  brother,  David,  who  died  in  1842,  upon  the  threshold  of  what 
promised  to  be  a  brilliant  career  as  a  lawyer.  The  removal  was  made  by  Samuel  Montgomery,  a  prominent 
business  man  of  Petersburg.  He  was  accompanied  to  the  grave  by  James  McGrady  Rutledge  and  a  few 
others,  who  located  the  grave  beyond  a  doubt.  In  the  new  cemetery,  the  grave  occupies  a  place  somewhat 
apart  from  others.  A  young  maple  tree  is  growing  beside  it,  and  it  is  marked  by  an  unpolished  granite 
stone  bearing  the  simple  inscription,  "  Ann  Rutledge." 

at  his  first  appearance,  but  they  were  not  long  in  recognizing  the 
real  superiority  of  his  nature. 

Such  was  Abraham  Lincoln  at  twenty-six,  when  the  tragic 
death  of  Ann  Rutledge  made  all  that  he  had  attained,  all  that 
he  had  planned,  seem  fruitless  and  empty.  He  was  too  sincere 
and  just,  too  brave  a  man,  to  allow  a  great  sorrow  permanently 
to  interfere  with  his  activities.  He  rallied  his  forces  and  returned 
to  his  law,  his  surveying,  his  politics.  He  brought  to  his  work  a 
new  power,  that  insight  and  patience  which  only  a  great  sorrow 
can  give. 


APPENDIX. 

i. 

MEMORANDA  FOR  LINCOLN'S  GENEALOGY. 

Prepared  especially  for  this  volume  by  the  Hon.  L.  E.   Chittenden,  Register  of  the 
Treasury  under  Lincoln,  and  author  of  "  President  Lincoln,"  etc. 

THE  Hon.  SOLOMON  LINCOLN  of  Hingham,  Massachusetts,  in  an  article  on 
the  "  Lincoln  Families  of  Massachusetts,"  in  the  "New  England  Historical  and 
Genealogical  Register,"  1865,  Volume  XIX.,  page  357,  says  :  "We  now  come 
to  the  family  of  Samuel  Lincoln,  in  which  we  find  more  names  than  in  any 
other,  which  leads  to  the  belief  that  it  is  in  this  direction  that  we  must  look  for 
the  ancestor  of  xxbraham  Lincoln.  To  this  family  belong  the  honored  names 
of  Levi  Lincoln,  Attorney-General  of  the  United  States,  Lieutenant  and  act 
ing  Governor  of  Massachusetts  after  the  death  of  Governor  Sullivan;  also  his 
two  distinguished  sons,  Levi,  1802,  who,  besides  other  offices,  was  by  nine 
elections  the  popular  Governor  of  Massachusetts;  and  Enoch  Lincoln,  Gov 
ernor  of  Maine  ;  and  many  other  able  men. 

"  In  a  correspondence  with  the  late  President,  in  1848,  when  he  was  in 
Congress,  he  stated  :  '  My  father's  name  is  Thomas,  my  grandfather's  was 
Abraham,  the  same  as  my  own.  He  went  from  Rockingham  County,  Virginia, 
to  Kentucky,  about  the  year  1782,  and  two  years  afterwards  was  killed  by  the 
Indians.  We  have  a  vague  tradition  that  my  great-grandfather  was  a  Quaker 
who  went  from  Pennsylvania  to  Virginia.  Further  than  this  I  have  not 
heard  anything.  It  may  do  no  harm  to  say  that  Abraham  and  Mordecai  are 
common  names  in  our  family. ' 

"In  a  subsequent  letter  in  1848,  he  wrote  :  'I  have  mentioned  that  my 
grandfather's  name  was  Abraham;  he  had,  as  I  think  I  have  heard,  four 
brothers,  Isaac,  Jacob,  Thomas,  and  John.  He  had  three  sons,  Mordecai, 
Josiah,  and  Thomas — the  last  my  father.  My  uncle  Mordecai  had  three  sons, 
Abraham,  James,  and  Mordecai.  My  uncle  Josiah  had  several  daughters  and 
only  one  son,  Thomas.  This  is  all  I  know  certainly  on  the  subject  of  names. 
It  is,  however,  my  father's  understanding  that  Abraham,  Mordecai,  and  Thomas 
are  old  family  names  of  ours.'  " 

Mr.  Solomon -Lincoln  continues  :  "We  have  already  mentioned  among 
the  sons  of  the  first  Samuel — Daniel,  Mordecai,  and  Thomas ;  and  among  his 
grandsons — Mordecai,  Isaac,  and  Abraham. 

"  It  has  been  stated  .  .  .  that  about  the  middle  of  the  last  century  the 
great-grandfather  of  Abraham  Lincoln  removed  from  Berks  County,  Pennsyl 
vania,  to  Augusta  County,  Virginia.  These  facts,  from  '  Rupp's  History  of 


224  APPENDIX. 

Berks  County,'  are  furnished  by  William  B.  Trask,  Esq.,  of  the  Genealogical 
Society.'' 

From  the  "History  of  the  Town  of  Hingham,  Massachusetts,''  four  volumes, 
8vo,  1893,  by  a  committee  comprising  Ex-Governor  Long  and  two  mem 
bers  of  the  Lincoln  family.  See  Volume  I. ,  page  271. 

' '  The  Liiicolns  fill  the  pages  of  local  and  Commonwealth  history  with  the 
story  of  their  services  in  the  field,  the  town,  the  halls  of  legislation,  and 
the  council  chamber,  from  the  earliest  day  to  the  present  time.  During  the 
French  wars  we  have  seen  Benjamin  Lincoln,  as  colonel  of  his  regiment,  the 
historical  Third  Suffolk,  .  .  .  taking  an  active  part.  Colonel  Lincoln 
died  in  March,  1771,  leaving,  among  others,  the  son  Benjamin  who  so  worthily 
filled  the  place  he  long  occupied  in  public  estimation  and  usefulness.  The 
affection  that  is  felt  for  the  great  President  Abraham  Lincoln,  also  a  descendant 
from  the  Hingham  family,  has  given  a  national  fame  to  the  name  in  later  years." 

From  "  The  Lineage  of  Abraham  Lincoln  traced  from  Samuel  Lincoln."     By 
I     Samuel  Shackford,  Esq.,  of  Chicago,  a  descendant  of  Samuel  Lincoln. 
See  New  England  Historical  and  Genealogical  Register,  1887,  Volume 
XLL,  page  153. 

"  Samuel  Lincoln  came  from  Norfolk  County,  England — probably  from 
the  town  of  Hingham — in  1637,  at  the  age  of  eighteen  years,  .  .  .  first  to 
Salem,  as  an  apprentice  to  a  weaver;  then  to  Hingham,  where  his  brother 
Thomas  .  .  .  lived.  .  .  .  He  had  ten  children.  .  .  .  Through  his 
first  son,  Samuel,  came  the  Governors  Levi  Lincoln,  father  and  son,  and 
Enoch  Lincoln,  Governor  of  Maine.  Mordecai,  fourth  son  of  Samuel,  born 
at  Hingham,  June  17,  1767,  was  a  blacksmith  ;  worked  at  his  trade  in  Hull  ; 
married  Sarah,  daughter  of  Abraham  and  Sarah  (Whitman)  Jones.  From 
Hull  the  family  removed  to  the  neighboring  town  of  Scituate,  about  1704, 
where  Mordecai  established  a  furnace  for  smelting  iron  ore.  The  children  of 
Mordecai  a^id  Sarah  (Jones)  Lincoln  were  five  in  number:  Mordecai,  born 
April  1,  1686 ;  Abraham,  born  January  13,  1689 ;  Isaac,  bom  October  21,  1691 ; 
and  Sarah,  born  July  29,  1691 — all  in  Hingham.  By  a  second  wife  he  had 
Elizabeth  and  Jacob,  born  in  Scituate. 

''The  will  of  Mordecai,  dated  Scituate,  March  3,  1727,  is  of  an  unusual 
character.  Isaac  and  Jacob,  the  younger  sons — Jacob  a  lad  of  sixteen  years — 
were  named  executors ;  and  to  them  are  bequeathed  all  the  testator's  lands  in 
Hingham  and  Scituate,  with  the  saw  and  grist  mill,  and  all  his  interest  in  the 
iron  works.  To  '  son  Mordecai '  is  left  one  hundred  and  ten  pounds  in  money 
or  bills  of  credit  ;  to  '  son  Abraham,'  sixty  pounds  in  money  or  bills,  '  besides- 
what  he  has  already  had.'  To  the  oldest  sons  of  Mordecai  and  Abraham,  each 
ten  pounds  when  they  come  of  age;  and  provision  is  made  for  sending 
three  grandsons  to  college,  if  they  wish  a  liberal  education. 

"Shortly  before  this  time  the  names  of  Mordecai  and  Abraham  disappear 
from,  and  are  not  after  1727  found  on,  the  records  of  Massachusetts.  They  were 
active  men  of  property  ;  and  this  fact,  in  connection  with  the  will,  which  gave 
them  only  money,  and  all  the  immovable  property  to  Isaac  and  Jacob,  raises 
an  almost  irresistible  inference  that  Mordecai  and  Abraham  no  longer  lived  in. 
Massachusetts. 


LINCOLN'S  ANCESTRY.  225 

"We  now  turn  to  New  Jersey  and  Pennsylvania,  and  find  that,  in  the 
early  part  of  the  last  century,  the  Moores,  Hales,  Rolfs,  Pikes,  and  other 
families  from  eastern  Massachusetts,  came  to  Middlesex  County,  New  Jersey, 
and  founded  a  town  which  they  named,  in  honor  of  their  old  pastor  in  New- 
bury,  Massachusetts,  Woodbridge.  At  a  somewhat  later  date  the  names  of 
Mordecai  and  Abraham  Lincoln  appear  on  the  records  of  Monmouth,  which 
adjoins  Middlesex  County. 

' '  Mordecai  Lincoln  had  married  Hannah  (Bowne)  Salter  of  Freehold, 
Monmouth  County,  New  Jersey.  Her  uncle  John  Bowne's  will,  dated  Septem 
ber  14,  1714,  gives  to  Hannah  Lincoln  a  bequest  of  two  hundred  and  fifty 
pounds.  She  was  the  daughter  of  Richard  Salter,  a  leading  lawyer,  member 
of  the  assembly,  and  judge.  Captain  John  Bowne  was  also  a  leading  and 
influential  citizen.  The  settlement  of  his  estate  involved  several  lawsuits 
shown  by  the  court  records.  The  first  in  1716,  by  Obadiah  Bowne,  executor, 
against  the  other  heirs,  Mordecai  Lincoln  being  a  defendant.  In  this  a  non 
suit  was  entered,  and  the  second  suit  ended  in  the  same  way.  The  third,  in 
1719,  also  included  Mordecai  Lincoln  as  a  defendant,  but  the  sheriff  returns 
him  non  est,  and  in  1720  the  suit  as  to  Mordecai  was  withdrawn. 

4 '  These  facts  are  satisfactory  proof  that  Mordecai  Lincoln  had,  before  1720, 
left  Monmouth  County." 

As  further  proof  of  the  identity  of  the  New  Jersey  with  the  Hingham 
Mordecai,  there  is  a  letter  shown  to  Mr.  Shackford  by  John  C.  Beekman,  Esq., 
of  Monmouth,  written  by  John  Bowne,  one  of  the  heirs  to  his  uncle  Obadiah, 
in  which  he  calls  Mordecai  " brother." 

A  deed  on  file  in  the  office  of  the  Secretary  of  State  in  Trenton,  New  Jer 
sey,  dated  February  29,  1720,  from  Richard  Salter  to  Mordecai  Lincoln,  both 
of  Freehold,  conveys  four  hundred  acres  of  land,  situate  on  the  Machaponix 
River  and  Grand  Bank,  Middlesex  County.  A  like  deed,  of  May  25, 1726,  con 
veys  one  hundred  acres  of  land  in  the  same  locality,  and  describes  Mordecai 
Lincoln,  the  grantee,  as  of  Chester  County,  Pennsylvania. 

It  appears  from  these  records  that  Mordecai  was  in  New  Jersey  in  1720. 
In  1876  there  was  unearthed  in  the  old  burying-ground  near  Allentown,  New 
Jersey,  a  tombstone,  bearing  this  inscription  :  "To  the  memory  of  Deborah 
Lincoln,  who  died  May  15,  1720,  aged  three  years  and  four  months."  As  no 
other  Lincolns  have  been  found  in  the  vicinity,  it  is  probable  that  she  was 
the  child  of  Mordecai  and  Hannah  Lincoln. 

A  deed  on  file  in  the  Department  of  Internal  Affairs  of  Pennsylvania, 
dated  December  24,  1725,  from  Mordecai  Lincoln  of  Coventry,  County  of 
Chester,  Pennsylvania,  conveys  to  William  Branston,  merchant,  of  Philadel 
phia,  one-third  of  one  hundred  and  six  acres  of  land,  according  to  an  agree 
ment  between  Samuel  Nutt  and  Mordecai  Lincoln,  with  ' '  the  mynes,  arid 
minerals,  forges,  buildings,  houses,  and  improvements."  This  is  important, 
for  it  shows  that  Mordecai  first  resided  in  Chester  County,  Pennsylvania, 
where  he  made  iron,  a  trade  learned  at  his  father's  establishment  in  Scituate. 

It  is  through  Mordecai  that  the  pedigree  of  President  Lincoln  is  traced  to 
Samuel  Lincoln.     But  it  is  also  essential  that  Abraham  of  Monmouth  County, 
New  Jersey,  should  be  identified  as  one  of  the  missing  sons  of  Mordecai  and 
Sarah  (Jones)  Lincoln  of  eastern  Massachusetts. 
15 


226  APPENDIX. 

Abraham,  like  his  father,  was  a  blacksmith,  as  the  next  deed  shows.  By 
it,  on  the  records  of  Monmouth  County,  New  Jersey,  February  20,  1727, 
Abraham  Lincoln,  "blacksmith/'  conveys  to  Thomas  Williams  two  hundred 
and  forty  acres  of  land  near  Creswick,  in  said  county,  and  two  hundred  acres 
conveyed  to  Abraham  Lincoln  by  Abraham  Van  Horn.  He  was  probably 
preparing  to  follow  his  brother  Mordecai  to  Pennsylvania. 

The  will  of  Abraham  Lincoln  is  dated  in  Springfield,  Chester  County, 
Pennsylvania,  April  15,  1745,  and  was  entered  for  probate  on  the  29th  of  the 
same  month.  His  estate,  a  plantation  in  Springfield  and  two  houses  in  Phila 
delphia,  was  divided  among  his  children,  viz. :  Mordecai,  Abraham,  Isaac, 
Jacob,  John,  Sarah,  and  Rebecca.  Four  of  his  sons  bore  the  same  Old  Testa 
ment  names  as  the  four  sons  of  the  first  Mordecai  of  Scituate. 

Returning  to  Mordecai,  we  find  in  his  will,  proved  June  7,  1736,  that  he  is 
described  as  of  Amity,  Philadelphia  County,  Pennsylvania.  By  it  he  be 
queaths  to  "my  sons  Mordecai  and  Thomas  all  my  lands  in  Amity,"  etc. ;  to 
his  daughters  Hannah  and  Mary  a  piece  of  land  in  Machaponix,  New  Jersey  ; 
and  to  "  my  son  John  three  hundred  acres  of  land  in  the  same  town  ;"  and  to 
his  daughters  Ann  and  Sarah  one  hundred  acres,  also  lying  in  Machaponix, 
New  Jersey. 

His  oldest  son,  John,  was  by  his  first  wife,  Hannah  Salter,  and  went  with 
his  father  to  Pennsylvania.  A  deed  from  John,  on  file  in  the  Secretary  of 
State's  office  in  Trenton,  New  Jersey,  describes  him  as  the  ' '  son  and  heir  of 
Mordecai  Lincoln,  of  the  town  of  Carnaervon,  County  of  Lancaster,"  and  the 
deed  conveys  to  William  Dye  ' '  three  hundred  acres  in  Middlesex  County,  New 
Jersey,  part  of  the  property  conveyed  October  20,  1720,  by  Richard  Salter  to 
Mordecai  Lincoln,  and  by  him  bequeathed  to  his  said  son  John. " 

John  Lincoln,  in  1758,  owned  a  farm  in  Union  township,  adjoining  Exeter 
(Pennsylvania  ?),  which  he  sold,  and  went  to  Virginia,  settling  in  that  portion 
of  Augusta  County  which  was  organized  into  Rockingham  County  in  1779. 
His  will  cannot  now  be  found,  part  of  the  papers  in  the  probate  office  at  Har- 
risonburgh  having  been  destroyed  by  fire.  But  there  is  ample  proof  that  he 
had  sons — John,  Thomas,  Abraham,  Isaac,  and  Jacob — and  daughters. 

The  son  Abraham  married  Mary  Shepley  in  North  Carolina,  just  over  the 
Virginia  boundary  line,  where  their  sons  Mordecai,  Josiah,  and  Thomas  were 
born.  In  1782,  or  about  that  time,  the  family  removed  to  Kentucky,  where 
their  daughters  Mary  and  Nancy  were  born.  The  son  THOMAS  LINCOLN  mar 
ried  Nancy  Hanks,  September  23,  1806,  near  Springfield,  Kentucky,  and 
ABRAHAM  LINCOLN,  their  son,  was  born  on  the  twelfth  day  of  February, 
1809. 

Mr.  Shackf ord  continues :  ' '  The  Lincolns  through  which  the  President's 
genealogy  is  traced  were  for  six  generations,  with  a  single  exception,  pioneers 
in  the  settlement  of  new  countries.  I.  Samuel,  an  early  settler  at  Hingham, 
Massachusetts.  II.  Mordecai,  of  Scituate,  who  lived  and  died  near  where  he 
was  born.  III.  Mordecai,  settled  in  Pennsylvania,  thirty  years  before  Berks 
County  was  organized.  IV.  John,  went  to  the  wilds  of  Virginia.  V.  Abra 
ham,  went  to  Kentucky  with  Boone  when  it  was  infested  by  savages.  VI. 
Thomas,  with  his  son  Abraham,  pioneers  to  Indiana." 

Mr.  Shackford  has  traced  the  pedigrees  of  other  members  of  the  Lincoln 


DR.    GRAHAM'S  ACCOUNT  OF  LINCOLN'S  PARENTS.    227 

family,  in  which  the  persistence  of  Scripture  names  is  very  marked.  We  con 
tent  ourselves  with  the  following,  which  bears  directly  on  the  connection  of 
the  Pennsylvania  and  Virginia  families : 

"Abraham,  the  posthumous  son  of  Mordecai  and  Mary  Lincoln  of  Amity, 
born  in  1736,  married  Ann  Boone,  a  cousin  of  Daniel,  the  Kentucky  pioneer. 
Their  grandson,  David  J.  Lincoln  of  Birdsboro',  Pennsylvania,  informs  me 
that  his  father  James,  who  died  in  1860,  at  the  age  of  ninety-four,  and  his  uncle 
Thomas,  who  died  in  1864,  told  him  that  Daniel  Boone  often  visited  his  friends 
in  Pennsylvania,  and  always  spent  part  of  his  time  with  his  cousin  Ann,  and 
that  his  glowing  accounts  of  the  South  and  West  induced  John  Lincoln  to 
remove  to  Virginia.  After  his  removal  he  was  known  as  '  Virginia  John,'  to 
distinguish  him  from  others  of  the  same  name." 

A  fact  which  will  probably  impress  the  reader  is  that  among  the  numerous 
Lincolns  mentioned  in  the  six  generations  from  Samuel,  the  immigrant  in 
1637,  to  Abraham,  the  President,  two  centuries  later,  there  is  not  one  that  does 
not  bear  a  scriptural  name.  A  coincidence  not  less  remarkable  is  the  identity 
of  names  in  the  successive  families. 

Among  the  children  of  the  first  Mordecai,  1686,  were  Mordecai,  Abraham, 
Isaac,  Sarah. 

Of  the  second  Mordecai,  1727:  Mordecai,  Abraham,  Isaac,  Jacob. 

Of  Abraham,  brother  of  second  Mordecai,  1745:  Mordecai,  Abraham, 
Isaac,  Sarah — identical  with  the  children  of  the  first  Mordecai;  also  John, 
Jacob,  and  Rebecca. 

Of  John  of  Virginia,  or  "  Virginia  John, "  1758:  Abraham,  Isaac,  Jacob, 
Thomas,  John. 

If  there  are  any  doubting  Thomases  who  cannot  see  in  this  extraordi 
nary  identity  of  names  any  blood  relationship,  no  evidence  would  convince 
them ;  neither  would  they  be  persuaded  though  one  rose  from  the  dead. 

Aside  from  this  identity  of  names,  the  foregoing  facts,  taken  from  original 
documents  on  file,  and  family  papers,  prove  beyond  any  reasonable  doubt  that 
Samuel  Lincoln  of  Hingham  was  the  ancestor  of  Abraham  Lincoln  of  Illinois 
by  a  line  of  descent  through  the  first  and  second  Mordecai,  "Virginia  John," 
Abraham,  and  Thomas  Lincoln.  In  genealogical  studies  it  is  seldom,  indeed, 
that  a  pedigree  is  so  clearly  established. 


II. 

CHRISTOPHER   COLUMBUS   GRAHAM   A"ND   HIS   REMINISCENCES 
OF  LINCOLN'S   PARENTS. 

THE  most  important  testimony  we  have  in  regard  to  the  character  of  the 
parents  of  Abraham  Lincoln,  and  of  the  conditions  under  which  they  lived,  is 
that  of  Christopher  Columbus  Graham.  Dr.  Graham  was  born  at  Worthing- 
ton's  Station,  near  Danville,  Kentucky,  in  1784.  He  lived  in  the  State  until  his 
death  at  Louisville  in  1885.  This  long  period  was  to  the  very  end  one  of  use 
ful  activity.  A  physician  by  profession,  Dr.  Graham  was,  by  his  love  of  nature, 


22S  APPENDIX. 

botanist,  geologist,  naturalist;  and  his  observations  on  the  flora,  fauna,  and 
strata  of  Kentucky  are  quoted  on  both  sides  of  the  Atlantic  by  scientists.  For 
many  years  Dr.  Graham  was  the  owner  of  the  famous  Harrodsburg  Springs. 
About  1852  he  sold  this  property  to  the  War  Department  of  the  United  States 
as  a  Retreat  for  Invalid  Military  Officers.  After  the  sale  of  the  Springs  he 
spent  most  of  this  time  in  study  and  in  arranging  his  fine  cabinet  of  Kentucky 
geology  and  natural  history,  before  selling  it  to  the  Louisville  Library 
Association. 

It  was  only  by  an  accident  that  Dr.  Graham's  knowledge  of  the  history 
of  Thomas  Lincoln  was  given  to  the  public.  Recluse  and  student,  he  heard 
little  or  nothing  of  the  stories  about  the  worthlessness  of  Thomas  Lincoln  and 
his  wife  which  were  circulated  at  the  time  of  the  election  of  Abraham  Lincoln 
to  the  Presidency.  To  what  he  did  hear  he  paid  little  or  no  attention.  One 
day  in  the  spring  of  1882,  however,  he  was  visiting  at  the  home  of  Capt.  J.  W. 
Wartmann,  Clerk  of  the  United  States  Court  at  Evansville,  Indiana,  and  Mr. 
Wartmann  overheard  him  say  that  he  was  present  at  the  marriage  of  Thomas 
Lincoln.  Realizing  at  once  the  historical  importance  of  such  a  testimony,  and 
thinking  that  it  might  lead  to  the  discovery  of  documentary  proofs  of  the 
marriage,  Mr.  Wartmann  secured  from  Mr.  Graham  the  following  affidavit  : 

"I,  Christopher  C.  Graham,  now  of  Louisville,  Kentucky,  aged  ninety- 
eight  years,  on  my  oath  say  :  That  I  was  present  at  the  marriage  of  Thomas 
Lincoln  and  Nancy  Hanks,  in  Washington  County,  near  the  town  of  Spring 
field,  Kentucky  ;  that  one  Jesse  Head,  a  Methodist  preacher  of  Springfield, 
Kentucky,  performed  the  ceremony.  I  knew  the  said  Thomas  Lincoln  and 
Nancy  Hanks  well,  and  know  the  said  Nancy  Hanks  to  have  been  virtuous 
and  respectable,  and  of  good  parentage.  I  do  not  remember  the  exact  date  of 
the  marriage,  but  was  present  at  the  marriage  aforesaid  ;  and  I  make  this 
affidavit  freely,  and  at  the  request  of  J.  W.  Wartmann,  to  whom,  for  the  first 
time,  I  have  this  day  incidentally  stated  the  fact  of  my  presence  at  the  said 
wedding  of  President  Lincoln's  father  and  mother.  I  make  this  affidavit  to 
vindicate  the  character  of  Thomas  Lincoln  and  Nancy  Hanks,  and  to  put  to 
rest  forever  the  legitimacy  of  Abraham  Lincoln's  birth.  I  was  formerly  pro 
prietor  of  Harrpdsburgh  Springs  ;  I  am  a  retired  physician,  and  am  now  a 
resident  of  Louisville,  Kentucky.  I  think  Felix  Grundy  was  also  present  at 
the  marriage  of  said  Thomas  Lincoln  and  Nancy  Hanks,  the  father  and 
mother  of  Abraham  Lincoln.  The  said  Jesse  Head,  the  officiating  minister  at 
the  marriage  aforesaid,  afterward  removed  to  Harrodsburgh,  Kentucky,  and 
edited  a  paper  there,  and  died  at  that  place. 

"CHRISTOPHER  COLUMBUS  GRAHAM. 

"Subscribed  and  sworn  to  before  me,  this  March  20,  A.D.  1882.  N.  C.  But 
ler,  Clerk  United  States  Circuit  Court,  First  District,  Indiana.  By  J.  W. 
Wartmann,  Deputy  Clerk." 

This  affidavit  attracted  wide  attention,  and  the  "New  York  Christian 
Advocate,"  the  leading  organ  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  in  its  issue 
of  April  13,  1882,  raised  several  pertinent  questions  : 

1.  Was  Christopher  Columbus  Graham,  at  ninety-eight  years  of  age,  in 
full  possession  of  his  faculties  ? 

2.  Why  had  he  not  given  his  precious  information  before  to  the  public  ? 

3.  Was  there  a  Methodist  preacher  named  Jesse  Head  ? 

These  questions  called  out  a  large  number  of  answers.  The  Rev.  William 
M.  Grubbs,  of  the  Southwest  Indiana  Conference,  stationed  at  Castleton, 


DR.  GRAHAM'S  ACCOUNT  OF  LINCOLN'S  PARENTS.       229 

Marion  County,  in  answer  to  the  editor's  first  point  gave  a  brief  history  of  Dr. 
Graham,  and  explained  why  he  ' ;  should  never  have  been  heard  of  before  as 
the  possessor  of  this  precious  information  "  : 

' '  The  Doctor  himself  was  a  man  of  more  than  ordinary  intelligence,  almost 
a  Chesterfield  in  manners,  and  a  leader  for  years  of  the  Whig  party — a  great 
friend  of  Henry  Clay — and  unless  he  has  greatly  degenerated,  he  is  now,  at 
ninety-eight  years,  a  good  specimen  of  '  the  fine  old  Kentucky  gentleman.' 
Additional  to  the  fact  that  he  has  been  quite  deaf  for  many  years,  he  is  a  great 
lover  of  nature  in  its  varied  forms.  As  an  evidence  of  this,  at  the  time  I  was 
their  guest,  in  1855,  he  had  been  absent  six  months  in  the  mountains  of 
Kentucky,  pursuing  his  favorite  studies  in  natural  history,  geology,  etc. 
Thus,  though  on  good  terms  with  his  family,  his  habits  became  those  of  the 
student  and  the  recluse.  The  family  told  us  pleasantly  that  such  was  his  pas 
sion  for  nature  in  its  wildest  forms  that  they  did  not  know  when  he  would 
think  of  paying  them  a  visit.  The  last  time  I  saw  him  was  in  Louisville,  Ken 
tucky,  arranging  his  large  cabinet  of  natural  history,  geology,  etc.,  for  the 
Library  Association  of  that  city,  to  which  he  had  sold  the  same  for  quite  a  large 
sum.  Since  the  death  of  his  wife  and  the  marriage  of  his  daughters,  I  think 
he  has  had  no  settled  home — something  of  a  rover — with  ample  means  and 
friends  everywhere.  It  is  not,  therefore,  surprising  that  his  habits  of  indiffer 
ence  to  passing  events  and  themes  kept  him  ignorant  of  the  mooted  point 
that  he  sets  to  rest  by  his  late  statement." 

The  Rev.  John  R.  Eads,  pastor  of  the  Danville,  Kentucky,  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church,  wrote  of  Dr.  Graham  :  "I  have  never  heard  his  veracity 
or  his  integrity  questioned."  Of  Jesse  Head  he  said  :  "He  is  remembered  by 
some  of  the  old  people  of  this  community."  He  added: 

' '  You  seem  surprised  that  the  testimony  of  Dr.  Graham  to  the  '  precious 
information '  which  he  communicates  should  not  have  been  procured  earlier. 
I  frankly  confess  that,  while  I  am  a  native  of  central  Kentucky,  and  have  spent 
most  of  my  life  here,  I  never  heard  before,  so  far  as  I  can  now  remember,  a 
question  raised  as  to  the  legal  marriage  of  Thomas  Lincoln  and  Nancy  Hanks. 
Thinking  this  might  be  exceptional  in  my  case,  I  have  taken  the  pains  to-day 
to  ask  others  if  they  ever  heard  such  a  question  raised,  and  they  tell  me  they 
have  not.  I  feel  quite  sure  that  there  must  be  very  few  people  in  central  Ken 
tucky  who  ever  heard  of  a  doubt  expressed  concerning  the  legal  marriage  of 
Thomas  Lincoln." 

Letters  were  received  from  the  Rev.  R.  T.  Stephenson  of  Shelby ville,  Ken 
tucky,  and  others,  supplying  information  as  to  who  the  Rev.  Jesse  Head  was 
and  what  were  his  relations  to  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church.  The  facts, 
however,  are  all  given  in  condensed  shape  in  the  following  : 

' '  LAWRENCEBURG,  KENTUCKY, 
"ANDERSON  COUNTY,  May  3,  1882. 
"To  THE  REV.  J.  M.  BUCKLEY,  D.D. 

"Dear  Sir  and  Brother:— Your  favor  reached  me  on  the  eve  of  my  leaving 
Harrodsburg  for  this  place,  hence  the  delay  in  responding  to  your  request. 
The  Rev.  Jesse  Head  referred  to  was  my  grandfather.  He  was  born  in  Mary 
land,  near  Baltimore  ;  was  married  to  Miss  Jane  Ramsey,  of  (what  is  now) 
Bedford  County,  Pennsylvania.  He  removed  to  Kentucky,  and  settled  at 
Springfield,  Washington  County.  He  was  an  ordained  minister  of  the  Metho 
dist  Episcopal  Church,  but  was  never  connected  with  the  itinerancy  in  Ken 
tucky,  on  account  of  feeble  health.  He  held  several  prominent  civil  offices 
while  living  in  Springfield,  and  was  actively  engaged  preaching  the  gospel  of 
God's  grace.  He  celebrated  the  rites  of  matrimony  between  Thomas  Lincoln 
and  Miss  Nancy  Hanks,  father  and  mother  of  President  Lincoln,  in  1806,  near 


230  APPENDIX. 

Springfield.  He  afterwards  moved  to  Harrodsburg,  Mercer  County,  where  he 
lived  until  his  death,  which  occurred  in  March,  1842.  At  Harrodsburg  he 
engaged  in  merchandising,  also  owned  and  edited  the  county  paper  for  a  term 
of  years.  He  was  largely  instrumental,  if  not  wholly,  in 'building  the  first 
church  ever  erected  in  Harrodsburg  ;  also  organized  and  conducted  the  first 
prayer-meeting.  In  gospel  labors  he  was  always  abundant.  His  house  was 
the  home  for  several  years  of  Rev.  H.  B.  Bascom,  afterwards  Bishop  ;  also  of 
Bishop  McKeiidree  especially,  as  they  were  bosom  friends.  Some  time  before 
his  death  he  left  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  and  connected  himself  with 
the  Radical  Methodists,  on  account  of  slavery,  and  also  some  dissatisfaction 
with  the  Episcopacy.  He  then  had  charge  of  and  preached  for  a  church  for 
years  at  Lexington,  Kentucky.  His  name  at  Harrodsburg  and  through  the 
surrounding  country  is  as  ointment  poured  forth.  He  was  a  man  of  decided  and 
positive  character,  bold  and  aggressive,  and  died  loved  and  honored  by  all. 
He  died  as  he  lived,  in  the  triumph  of  the  faith  of  the  Gospel  of  God's  Son. 
"  Fraternally  yours, 

"E.  B.  HEAD,  P.E., 
"  Lawrenceburg  Circuit,  Kentucky  Conference." 

The  "Christian  Advocate,"  upon  receipt  of  the  first  letter,  requested  the 
Rev.  John  R.  Eads  of  Danville,  Kentucky,  to  have  the  marriage  record  ex 
amined,  the  following  reply  being  returned : 

"DANVILLE,  KENTUCKY,  April 25,  1882. 
"DR.  BUCKLEY. 

' '  My  Dear  Brother: — Your  postal  card  received.  I  have  just  received  the 
accompanying  paper,  which,  though  somewhat  singular  in  form  in  some  of 
its  parts,  will  be  plain  to  you  in  its  essential  facts.  You  have  received  my 
other  two  letters,  which  in  connection  with  this  certificate  will,  I  trust,  set  the 
whole  matter  to  which  they  relate  in  a  satisfactory  light. 

"Fraternally, 

"JOHN  R.  EADS." 
Here  follows  the  certificate : 

"  Clerk's  Ofiice,  Washington  County  Court, 
"W.  F.  Booker,  Clerk. 

"SPRINGFIELD,  KENTUCKY,  April  24,  1882. 
"THE REV.  JOHN  R.  EADS. 

"Dear  Sir: — Yours  in  regard  to  the  marriage  certificate  of  Thomas  Lincoln 
to  Nancy  Hanks  reached  here  during  my  absence  in  Louisville.  I  now  send 
you  a  copy  of  the  same : 

"  I  do  hereby  certify  that  the  following  is  a  true  list  of  the  marriage  solem- 
Thomas  Lincoln  and  NJ 


nized  by  me  between  Thomas  Lincoln  and  Nancy  Hanks,  September  23,  1806. 

"JESSE  HEAD,  D.  N.  E.  C. 
"  (Copy  attest.) 
"W.  F.  Booker, 

"  Clerk,  Washington  County  Court. 

"  Yours  respectfully,  W.  F.  B." 

The  "Christian  Advocate,"  in  publishing  the  letters,  said: 

"  In  summing  up  the  whole  the  following  points  may  be  considered  as  for 
ever  settled : 

"  1.  There  was  such  a  man  as  Jesse  Head,  a  local  deacon  in  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church,  in  1806. 

"2.  He  married  Thomas  Lincoln  and  Nancy  Hanks  on  September  23, 1806,  * 

*  The  date  here  given  is  wrong  ;  the  marriage  took  place  on  June  12,  1806.  The  error  arose  in  copying 
the  record  the  first  time,  the  date  of  the  marriage  following  that  of  Thomas  Lincoln  being  taken  instead  of 
the  one  before  his  name. 


DR.   GRAHAM'S  ACCOUNT  OF  LINCOLN'S  PARENTS.      231 

of  whom  was  born  the  venerated  and  never-to-be-forgotten  Abraham  Lin 
coln. 

"3.  The  fact  of  the  marriage  was  duly  certified  by  Jesse  Head,  in  the 
clerk's  office  of  Washington  County,  Kentucky,  where  it  may  now  be  seen. 

"4.  The  Rev.  E.  B.  Head  has  spoken  of  this  fact  in  the  family  history 
prior  to  the  publication  of  this  affidavit. 

"5.  Dr.  Graham  is  a  competent  witness,  and  his  testimony  is  confirmed  in 
every  point. 

"6.  In  view  of  these  facts,  that  there  should  ever  have  been  any  doubts 
raised  about  the  marriage  of  the  parents  of  Mr.  Lincoln,  and  that  it  should 
have  been  gravely  discussed,  and  never  explicitly  settled  in  the  various  biogra 
phies,  is  remarkable." 

Soon  after  the  publication  of  the  above  facts  a  historian  of  Louisville, 
Kentucky,  Dr.  Henry  Whitney  Cleveland,  realizing  the  importance  of  Dr. 
Graham's  reminiscences,  secured  from  him,  in  his  hundredth  year,  an  account 
of  what  he  remembered  of  Thomas  Lincoln.  Mr.  Cleveland  took  down  word 
for  word  what  Dr.  Graham  told  him,  and  we  print  it  in  full  below.  We 
regard  it  as  in  many  ways  the  most  important  unpublished  document  we 
have  been  able  to  discover  in  regard  to  Thomas  Lincoln.  As  to  the  mental 
condition  of  Dr.  Graham  in  1884,  we  have  the  testimony  of  some  of  the 
leading  citizens  of  Louisville.  In  the  paper  read  before  the  Southern  Historical 
Society  in  1880,  in  commemoration  of  the  one  hundredth  anniversary  of 
Louisville,  Dr.  Durrett  said  of  Mr.  Graham : 

' '  Four  years  more  will  make  him  a  centenarian,  and  yet  he  moves  along 
the  streets  every  day  with  the  elastic  step  of  manhood's  prime,  and  the  eagle 
eye  which  made  him  in  youth  the  finest  rifle-shot  in  the  world  is  shorn  but 
little  of  its  unerring  sight.  He  was  a  practising  physician  three-quarters  of  a 
century  ago,  and  is  the  author  of  several  learned  books  of  a  professional  and 
philosophical  character.  His  health  is  yet  good,  his  faculties  well  preserved, 
and  he  seems  to-day  more  like  a  man  of  sixty-nine  than  ninety-six." 

In  1884,  when  Dr.  Graham  had  become  a  centenarian,  a  banquet  was  given 
him  at  which  all  the  leading  citizens  of  Louisville  were  present.  Without 
exception,  every  one  of  the  persons  with  whom  we  have  talked  of  Dr.  Graham's 
condition  at  this  time  affirms  that  he  was  mentally  vigorous  and  his  memory 
trustworthy.  In  the  face  of  such  testimony  the  statements  in  the  following 
document  must  be  accepted : 


DR.    GRAHAM'S  STATEMENT. 

The  original  statement  was  written  out,  at  Dr.  Graham's  dictation,  by  Dr.  Henry 
Whitney  Cleveland  of  Louisville,  Kentucky,  but  was  signed  by  Dr.  Graham's  own  hand. 

I,  CHRISTOPHER  COLUMBUS  GRAHAM,  now  in  my  hundredth  year,  and 
visiting  the  Southern  Exposition  in  Louisville,  where  I  live,  tell  this  to  please 
my  young  friend  Henry  Cleveland,  who  is  nearly  half  my  age.  He  was  often 
at  the  Springs  Hotel  in  Harrodsburg,  Kentucky,  then  owned  and  kept  by  me 
for  invalids  and  pleasure-seekers.  I  am  one  of  the  two  living  men  who  can 
prove  that  Abraham  Lincoln,  or  Linkhorn,  as  the  family  was  miscalled,  was 
born  in  lawful  wedlock,  for  I  saw  Thomas  Lincoln  marry  Nancy  Hanks  on 


232  APPENDIX. 

the  twelfth  day  of  June,  1806.  He  was  born  at  what  was  then  known  as  the 
Rock  Spring  Farm — it  is  now  called  the  Creal  Place — three  miles  south  of 
Hodgensville,  in  Larue  County,  Kentucky. 

Kentucky  was  first  a  county  of  Virginia  after  its  settlement,  and  then  was 
divided  into  three  counties  ;  and  these,  again  divided,  are  pretty  much  the  pres 
ent  State.  The  first  historian  was  Filson,  who  made  and  published  the  first 
map  of  the  separate  territory,  with  the  names  of  streams  and  stations  as  given 
by  Daniel  Boone  and  Squire  Boone,  James  Harrod,  and  others.  I  knew  all  of 
these,  as  well  as  President  Lincoln's  parents. 

I  think  they  lived  on  the  farm  four  years  after  he  was  born.  Another  boy 
was  born  in  Hodgensville,  or,  I  should  say,  buried  there.  The  sister,  Sally, 
was  older  than  Abe,  I  think.  I  think  the  paper  now  owned  by  Henry  Cleve 
land  is  the  "  marriage  lines  "  written  by  Rev.  Jesse  Head,  a  well-known  Meth 
odist  preacher.  I  do  not  think  the  old  Bible  it  was  found  in  was  that  of 
Tom  Lincoln.  It  would  cost  too  much  for  him.  All  of  the  records  in  it  were 
those  of  the  father's  family — the  John  M.  Hewetts — of  the  wife  of  Dr.  Theodore 
S.  Bell.  Dr.  Bell  was  only  about  twenty  years  younger  than  I  am,  and  prob 
ably  got  the  certificate  in  1858  or  1860,  when  assertions  were  made  that  Tom 
Lincoln  and  Nancy  Hanks  were  not  married  when  Abe  was  born. 

He  was  reputed  to  have  been  born  February  12,  1809,  and  I  see  no  good 
reason  to  dispute  it.  Sally,  I  am  sure,  was  the  first  child,  and  Nancy  was  a 
fresh  and  good-looking  girl — I  should  say  past  twenty.  Nancy  lived  with  the 
Sparrow  family  a  good  bit.  It  was  likely  Tom  had  the  family  Bible  from  Vir 
ginia,  through  his  father,  called  Abraham  Linkhorn.  His  brothers,  however, 
were  older — if  they  were  brothers,  and  not  uncles,  as  some  say.  I  was  hunt 
ing  roots  for  my  medicines,  and  just  went  to  the  wedding  to  get  a  good  supper, 
and  got  it. 

Bibles  cost  as  much  as  the  spinning-wheel,  or  loom,  or  rifle,  and  were  im 
ported  in  the  main.  A  favorite  with  the  Methodists  was  Fletcher's,  or  one  he 
wrote  a  preface  for.  Preachers  used  it,  and  had  no  commentaries.  A  book 
dedicated  to  King  James  or  any  other  king  did  not  take  well  in  Revolution 
ary  times.  The  Bibles  I  used  to  see  had  no  printed  records  or  blanks,  but  a 
lot  of  fine  linen  hand-made  paper  would  be  bound  in  front  or  back.  On  this, 
family  history  and  land  matters  were  written  out  fully  like  a  book.  Some 
had  fifty  pages.  The  court-houses  even  were  made  of  logs,  and  the  meeting 
houses  too,  if  they  had  any.  No  registers  were  kept  as  in  English  parish 
churches,  and  are  not  yet.  Before  a  license  could  be  had,  a  bond  and  security 
was  taken  of  the  bridegroom,  and  the  preacher  had  to  return  to  the  court  all 
marriages  of  the  year.  This  was  often  a  long  list,  and  at  times  papers  were 
lost  or  forgotten,  but  not  often.  The  "  marriage  lines  "  given  by  the  preacher 
to  the  parties  were  very  important  in  case  the  records  were  burned  up  by  acci 
dent.  Such  is  the  paper  that  Henry  Cleveland  has  shown  to  me.  The  ring 
was  not  often  used,  as  so  few  had  one  to  use.  The  Methodist  Church  discipline 
forbid  "the  putting  on  of  gold  or  costly  apparel,"  and  I  think  a  preacher  with 
a  gold  watch — if  not  an  inherited  one — would  have  been  dismissed.  A 
preacher  that  married  was  "located,"  and  that  ended  his  itinerancy  in  the 
Methodist  Church.  The  Presbyterians  were  educated  and  married ;  Baptists 
not  educated. 


DR.  GRAHAM'S. ACCOUNT  OF  LINCOLN'S  PARENTS.      233 

Tom  Lincoln  was  a  carpenter,  and  a  good  one  for  those  days,  when  a  cabin 
was  built  mainly  with  the  axe,  and  not  a  nail  or  bolt  or  hinge  in  it,  only 
leathers  and  pins  to  the  door,  and  no  glass,  except  in  watches  and  spectacles 
and  bottles.  Tom  had  the  best  set  of  tools  in  what  was  then  and  now  Wash 
ington  County.  Larue  County,  where  the  farm  was  settled,  was  then  Hardin. 

Jesse  Head,  the  good  Methodist  preacher  that  married  them,  was  also  a 
carpenter  or  cabinet-maker  by  trade,  and  as  he  was  then  a  neighbor,  they  were 
good  friends.  He  had  a  quarrel  with  the  bishops,  and  was  not  an  itinerant 
for  several  years,  but  an  editor,  and  county  judge  afterwards,  in  Harrodsburg. 
Mr.  Henry  Cleveland  has  his  commission  from  Governor  Isaac  Shelby. 

Many  great  men  of  the  South  and  North  were  then  opposed  to  slavery, 
mainly  because  the  new  negroes  were  as  wild  as  the  Indians,  and  might  prove 
as  dangerous.  Few  of  the  whites  could  read,  and  yet  Pope  and  Dryden  and 
Shakespeare  were  as  well  known  as  Bunyan's  "Pilgrim's  Progress"  and 
Baxter's  "  Saints'  Rest."  Some  were  educated  in  Virginia  and  North  Carolina 
before  they  came,  and  these,  when  they  became  teachers,  wrote  out  their 
school-books  entirely  by  hand. 

Thomas  Lincoln,  like  his  son  after  him,  had  a  notion  that  fortunes  could 
be  made  by  trips  to  New  Orleans  by  flatboat.  This  was  dangerous,  from  snags 
and  whirlpools  in  the  rivers,  from  Indians,  and  even  worse — pirates  of  the 
French,  Canadians,  arid  half-breeds.  Steam  was  unknown,  and  the  flats  had 
.to  be  sold  in  New  Orleans,  as  they  could  not  be  rowed  back  against  the  cur 
rents.  The  neighbors  joked  Tom  for  building  his  boat  too  high  and  narrow, 
from  an  idea  he  had  about  speed,  that  has  since  been  adopted  by  ocean  steam 
ships.  But  he  lacked  in  ballast.  He  loaded  her  up  with  deer  and  bear  hams 
and  buffalo,  which  last  was  then  not  so  plenty  for  meat  or  hides  as  when  the 
Boone  brothers  came  in.  Besides,  he  had  wax,  for  bees  seemed  to  follow  the 
white  people,  and  he  had  wolf  and  coon  and  mink  and  beaver  skins,  gentian  root 
(that  folks  then  called  "gensang"  or  "  'sang"),  nuts,  honey,  peach-brandy  and 
whiskey,  and  jeans  woven  by  his  wife  and  Sally  Bush,  that  he  married  after 
Nancy  died.  Some  said  she  died  of  heart  trouble,  from  slanders  about  her  and 
old  Abe  Enloe,  called  Inlow,  while  her  Abe,  named  for  the  pioneer  Abraham 
Linkhorn,  was  still  little.  But  I  am  ahead  of  my  story,  for  Nancy  had  just  got 
married  where  I  was  telling  it,  and  the  flatboat  and  Sally  Bush  Lincoln  come 
in  before  he  goes  over  to  what  people  called  "  Indiany."  I  will  finish  that,  and 
then  go  back. 

He  started  down  Knob  Creek  when  it  was  flush  with  rains  ;  but  the  leaves 
held  water  like  a  sponge,  and  the  ground  was  shaded  with  big  trees  and  papaw 
and  sassafras  thickets  and  "cain,"  as  Bible-read  folks  spelt  the  cane,  and 
streams  didn't  dry  up  in  summer  like  they  do  now.  When  he  got  to  the  Ohio 
it  was  flush,  too,  and  full  of  whirlpools  and  snags.  He  had  his  tool-chest  along, 
intending  to  stop  and  work  in  Indiana  and  take  down  another  boat.  But  he 
never  got  to  the  Mississippi  with  that,  for  it  upset,  and  he  only  saved  his  chest 
and  part  of  his  load  because  he  was  near  to  the  Indiana  shore.  He  stored  what 
he  saved  under  bark,  and  came  home  a-f  oot,  and  in  debt  to  neighbors  who  had 
helped  him.  But  people  never  pressed  a  man  that  lost  by  Indians  or  water. 

Now  I  go  back  for  a  spell.  Thomas  and  Nancy  both  could  read  and  write, 
and  little  Abe  went  to  school  about  a  year.  He  was  eight  years  old  at  the  time 


234  APPENDIX. 

of  the  accident  to  Tom  Lincoln's  dowii-the-river  venture.  Thomas  and  Nancy 
were  good  common  people,  not  above  nor  below  their  neighbors,  and  I  did  not 
take  much  notice  of  them,  because  there  was  no  likelihood  that  their  wedding 
would  mean  more  than  other  people's  did. 

The  preacher  Jesse  Head  often  talked  to  me  on  religion  and  politics,  for 
I  always  liked  the  Methodists.  I  have  thought  it  might  have  been  as  much 
from  his  free-spoken  opinions  as  from  Henry  Clay's  American-African  coloni 
zation  scheme  in  1817,  that  I  lost  a  likely  negro  man,  who  was  leader  of  my 
musicians.  It  is  said  that  Tom  Cor  win  met  him  in  Ohio  on  his  way  to  Can 
ada,  and  asked  if  I  was  along.  The  boy  said  no,  he  was  going  for  his  freedom. 
Governor  Corwin  said  he  was  a  fool ;  he  had  never  been  whipped  or  abused, 
but  dressed  like  a  white  man,  with  the  best  to  eat,  and  that  hundreds  of  white 
people  would  be  glad  of  such  a  good  place,  with  no  care,  but  cared  for. 

The  boy  drew  himself  up  and  said  :  "Marse  Tom,  that  situation  with  all 
its  advantages  is  open  to  you,  if  you  want  ter  go  an'  fill  it." 

But  Judge  Head  never  encouraged  any  runaway,  nor  had  any  ' '  under 
ground  railroad."  He  only  talked  freely  and  boldly,  and  had  plenty  of  true 
Southern  men  with  him,  such  as  Clay.  •  The  Eli  Whitney  cotton-gin  had  now 
made  slavery  so  valuable  that  preachers  looked  in  Hebrew  and  Greek  Testa 
ments  for  scripture  for  it. 

Tom  Lincoln  and  Nancy,  and  Sally  Bush  were  just  steeped  full  of  Jesse 
Head's  notions  about  the  wrong  of  slavery  and  the  rights  of  man  as  explained 
by  Thomas  Jefferson  and  Thomas  Paine.  Abe  Lincoln  the  Liberator  was 
made  in  his  mother's  womb  and  father's  brain  and  in  the  prayers  of  Sally  Bush ; 
by  the  talks  and  sermons  of  Jesse  Head,  the  Methodist  circuit  rider,  assistant 
county  judge,  printer-editor,  and  cabinet-maker.  Little  Abe  grew  up  to  serve 
as  a  cabinet-maker  himself  two  Presidential  terms. 

It  was  in  my  trip  to  Canada  after  my  negro  that  I  met  the  younger  brother 
of  the  great  chief  Tecumseh.  A  mob  wanted  to  kill  me  because  I  was  after 
my  property  that  had  legs  and  a  level  head.  The  Indian  was  one  of  the  finest 
looking  men  I  ever  saw,  and  in  the  full  uniform  of  a  British  officer.  He  pro 
tected  me,  and  we  had  a  talk  after  the  danger  was  over.  He  said  that  history 
was  right  about  the  death  of  his  great  brother  Tecumseh  at  the  battle  of  the 
Thames  in  1813.  But  the  story  of  his  skin  being  taken  off  by  soldiers  to  make 
razor- straps  was  all  a  lie,  as  they  never  had  the  chance.  He  was  not  even 
slain  at  the  point  in  the  battle  indicated  by  Colonel  Richard  M.  Johnson,  whose 
accession  to  the  Vice-Presidency  in  1836  was  largely  due  to  the  credit  which  he 
gained  for  this  supposed  exploit.  My  Indian  protector  said  he  was  a  lad  at  the 
time,  but  [was]  there ;  and  that  the  red  men  never  abandoned  their  chiefs,  dead 
nor  alive. 

I  come  back  again  to  the  Lincoln-Hanks  wedding  of  1806.  Rev.  or 
Judge  Jesse  Head  was  one  of  the  most  prominent  men  there,  as  he  was  able  to 
own  slaves,  but  did  not  on  principle.  Next,  I  reckon,  came  Mordecai  Lincoln, 
at  one  time  member  of  the  Kentucky  legislature.  He  was  a  good  Indian 
fighter  ;  and  although  some  say  he  was  the  elder  brother  of  Tom  Lincoln,  I 
understood  he  was  his  uncle,  or  father's  brother.  The  story  of  his  killing  the 
Indian  who  killed  old  Abraham  Linkhorn  is  all  "my  eye  and  Betty  Martin." 

My  acceptance  of  this  whole  pedigree  is  on  hearsay,  and  none  of  it  from 


DR.  GRAHAM'S  ACCOUNT  OF  LINCOLN'S  PARENTS.      235 

the  locality  of  Tom  Lincoln's  home.  There  is  a  Virginia  land  warrant,  No. 
3,334,  of  March  4,  1780,  for  four  hundred  acres  of  land,  cost  one  hundred  and 
sixty  pounds,  located  in  Jefferson  County,  Kentucky,  on  Long  Run  ;  and 
[there  is  a  report  of  survey  for  the  same  tract  (see  pages  22  and  23)]  signed  by 
William  Shanon,  D.  S.  J.  C.,  and  William  May,  S.  J.  C.,  witnessed  by  Ana- 
niah  Lincoln  and  Josiah  Lincoln,  C.  C.  (chain-carriers),  and  Abraham  Link- 
horn,  Marker,  dated  May  7,  1785,  five  years  later.  "Mordecai  Lincoln, 
Gentleman,"  is  the  title  given  one  who  died  in  Berks  County,  Pennsylvania, 
in  1735,  and  his  will  is  recorded  in  the  Register's  office  in  Philadelphia.  New 
Jersey,  Virginia,  and  Tennessee  also  have  the  name  correctly,  in  the  last 
century.  The  fame  of  General  Benjamin  Lincoln  of  the  Revolution  was  on 
every  tongue  at  that  time.  In  the  field-book  of  Daniel  Boone,  owned  by 
Lyman  C.  Draper,  five  hundred  acres  of  land  was  entered  for  Abraham 
Lincoln  on  treasury  warrant  No.  5,994,  December  11,  1782.  The  officers  of  the 
land-office  of  Virginia  could  spell,  and  so  could  the  surveyor  and  deputy  sur 
veyor  (Record  "B,"  p.  60  of  Jefferson  County  in  1785).  The  two  chain-car 
riers  spelled  the  name  correctly.  Why  not  also  think  that  the  third  man 
spelled  his  correctly  ?  A  very  illiterate  man  could  pronounce  what  he  could 
not  spell,  and  Abraham  Linkhorn,  who  had  money  and  could  write,  knew  his 
own  name.  President  Lincoln  told  James  Speed  :  "I  don't  know  who  my 
grandfather  was,  and  am  more  concerned  to  know  what  his  grandson  will  be." 
I  am  not  sure  that  we  know,  either,  perfectly  yet.* 

While  you  pin  me  down  to  facts  I  will  say  that  I  saw  Nancy  Hanks 
Lincoln  at  her  wedding,  a  fresh-looking  girl,  I  should  say  over  twenty. 
Tom  was  a  respectable  mechanic  and  could  choose,  and  she  was  treated  with 
respect.  .  .  . 

I  was  at  the  inf  are,  too,  given  by  John  H.  Parrott,  her  guardian,  and  only 
girls  with  money  had  guardians  appointed  by  the  court.  We  had  bear-meat 
(that  you  can  eat  the  grease  of,  and  it  not  rise  like  other  fats) ;  venison  ;  wild 
turkey  and  ducks  ;  eggs,  wild  and  tame  (so  common  that  you  could  buy  them 
at  two  bits  a  bushel) ;  maple  sugar,  swung  on  a  string,  to  bite  off  for  coffee  or 
whiskey  ;  syrup  in  big  gourds  ;  peach-and-honey  ;  a  sheep  that  the  two  families 
barbecued  whole  over  coals  of  wood  burned  in  a  pit,  and  covered  with  green 
boughs  to  keep  the  juices  in  ;  and  a  race  for  the  whiskey  bottle.  The  sheep 
cost  the  most,  and  corn  was  early  raised  in  what  is  now  Boyle  County,  at  the 
Isaac  Shelby  place.  I  don't  know  who  stamped  in  the  first  peach-seed,  but 
they  grew  before  the  apples.  Our  table  was  of  the  puncheons  cut  from  solid 
logs,  and  on  the  next  day  they  were  the  floor  of  the  new  cabin. 

It  is  all  stuff  about  Tom  Lincoln  keeping  his  wife  in  an  open  shed  in  a 
winter  when  the  wild  animals  left  the  woods  and  stood  in  the  corners  next  the 
stick-and-clay  chimneys,  so  as  not  to  freeze  to  death  ;  or,  if  climbers,  got  on 
the  roof.  The  Lincolns  had  a  cow  and  calf,  milk  and  butter,  a  good  feather 
bed,  for  I  have  slept  in  it  (while  they  took  the  buffalo  robes  on  the  floor,  be 
cause  I  was  a  doctor) .  They  had  home- wo  ven  ' '  kiverlids, "  big  and  little  pots,  a 
loom  and  wheel  ;  and  William  Hardesty,  who  was  there  too,  can  say  with  me 
that  Tom  Lincoln  was  a  man  and  took  care  of  his  wife. 

*  The  memoranda  for  Lincoln's  genealogy  (page  223),  and  the  introduction  to  this  work,  as  well  as  the 
first  chapter,  show  that  we  do  know  now,  beyond  a  doubt,  who  and  what  Lincoln's  ancestors  were. 


236  APPENDIX. 

I  have  been  in  bark  camps  with  Daniel  and  Squire  Boone  and  James  Har- 
rod.  We  have  had  to  wade  in  the  ' '  crick, "  as  Daniel  spelt  it,  to  get  our  scent 
lost  in  the  water,  and  the  Indian  dogs  off  our  trail.  When  trailed  and  there 
was  no  water  handy,  I  have  seen  Daniel  cut  a  big  grapevine  loose  at  the  bot 
tom,  with  his  tomahawk,  from  the  ground.  Then,  with  a  run  and  swing  from 
the  tree  it  hung  to,  swing  and  jump  forty  feet  clear,  to  break  the  scent  on  the 
ground.  I  have  done  it  too,  but  not  so  far.  He  could  beat  any  man  on  the 
run  and  jump,  but  it  took  more  than  two  Indians  or  one  bear  to  make  him  do 
it.  If  no  dog  barked  in  the  silent  woods,  we  could  run  backward  very  fast, 
and  make  Mr.  Indian  think  we  had  gone  the  way  we  came.  They  went  that 
way,  and  we  the  other  for  dear  scalps  and  hair.  Squirrels  barking  or  chatter 
ing  at  Indians,  or  dogs,  often  told  us  of  our  danger.  I  wanted  to  have  a  pioneer 
exhibit  at  the  great  Louisville  Southern  Expositions  of  1883  and  1884.  I  wanted 
the  dense  laurel  and  the  papaw  thickets  planted  in  rich  soil  ;  the  bear  climbing 
the  bee-tree,  and  beaten  by  the  swinging  log  hung  by  the  hunter  in  his  way  ; 
the  creeping  Indian  with  his  tomahawk,  and  the  hunter  with  the  old  flint-and- 
steel  rifle,  just  as  I  had  seen  them.  Then  I  wanted  to  have  women  from  the 
mountains  and  the  counties  that  railroads  and  turnpikes  have  not  opened,  and 
have  them  in  real  life,  to  spin  and  weave,  or  bead  and  fringe  the  moccasin 
and  hunting-shirt  and  leggings  as  they  did  when  I  was  a  boy.  This,  by  the 
side  of  the  industries  and  arts  of  the  new  era,  and  the  wool  and  cotton  ma 
chinery  in  its  present  perfection,  would  indeed  tell  to  the  eyes  of  the  changes 
seen  by  an  old  man  who  has  lived  a  hundred  years.  As  they  did  not  listen 
to  me,  I  have  asked  Henry  Cleveland,  who  was  a  boy  and  played  with  my  lit 
tle  children  at  the  Harrodsburg  Springs  in  the  forties,  to  write  it  as  I  talked  to 
him.  I  am  very  deaf,  but  can  see  and  talk,  and  will  now  write  my  autograph 
to  what  he  has  written  and  copied  off,  and  will  take  up  James  Harrod  at 
another  time. 


III. 

A  LEAF  FROM  LINCOLN'S  EXERCISE-BOOK,   USED  IN  1824. 
HITHERTO  UNPUBLISHED.     (See  page  78.) 

From  the  Collection  of  Mr.  William  E.  Lambert  of  Philadelphia. 

MR.  LAMBERT'S  collection  of  Lincolniana  has  been  made  most  intelligently. 
Primarily  it  consists  of  the  literature  directly  relating  to  Lincoln,  and  includes 
a  large  number  of  books  and  pamphlets,  the  list  of  biographies  and  eulogies 
being  very  full.  It  also  comprises  a  large  number  of  engravings  of  Lincoln, 
and  a  number  of  autograph  letters  and  documents,  chief  among  which  are  a 


THE  OLDROYD  LINCOLN  COLLECTION.  237 

leaf  from  Lincoln's  sum-book,  1824;  the  precipe  in  his  first  lawsuit;  letter  to 
William  H.  Herndon,  relative  to  General  Taylor  and  the  Mexican  War ;  letter 
to  his  step-brother,  John  D.  Johnston,  refusing  assent  to  the  latter's  proposition 
to  dispose  of  the  mother's  interest  in  property ;  printed  copy  of  the  Emancipa 
tion  Proclamation,  signed  by  Lincoln,  attested  by  Mr.  Seward,  and  certified  by 
Mr.  Nicolay,  being  one  of  the  twenty  copies  made  for  the  great  Sanitary  Fair 
in  Philadelphia,  1864;  and  a  series  of  autograph  letters  of  William  H.  Herndon, 
written  in  1866  and  1867,  relative  to  his  lectures  on  Lincoln  and  the  biography 
which  he  proposed  writing.  Among  the  books  are  a  copy  of  Paley's  works, 
from  Lincoln's  private  library;  "  Angel  on  Limitations,"  from  his  law  library; 
and  "  Webster's  Dictionary,"  used  by  Lincoln  at  the  White  House. 

The  oifice  table,  bookcase,  revolving  chair,  and  wooden  inkstand  owned 
and  used  by  Lincoln  in  his  law  office  at  Springfield,  with  certificates  from  Mr. 
Herndon  and  others  as  to  the  genuineness  of  these  articles,  are  in  the  collec 
tion.  From  the  inkstand,  Mr.  Herndon  states,  the  "  house-divided-against- 
itself  "  speech  was  written. 

The  Volk  life-mask  and  casts  of  hands,  the  Clark-Mills  life-mask,  and  an 
original  ambrotype  of  Lincoln,  made  in  August,  1860,  are  also  owned  by  Mr. 
Lambert. 


IV. 

THE   OLDROYD   LINCOLN  COLLECTION. 

THE  oldest  and  probably  the  largest  collection  of  Lincolniana  which  has 
been  made  is  known  as  the  Oldroyd  collection,  and  is  at  present  in  the  house 
in  Washington,  D.  C.,  where  Lincoln  died,  April  15,  1865.  The  collection  takes 
its  name  from  its  owner,  Colonel  O.  H.  Oldroyd.  The  germ  of  the  collection 
was  a  campaign  badge  which  excited  the  possessor's  desire  to  have  others.  In 
the  days  of  1860  in  Ohio — Mr.  Oldroyd  lived  in  Ohio — it  was  easy  to  get  badges 
adorned  with  Mr.  Lincoln's  face,  or  with  a  section  of  the  rail  fence  and  the  flat- 
boat  which  had  been  adopted  by  the  people  as  his  armorial  bearings.  The 
campaign  badges  which  young  Oldroyd  saved  naturally  drew  other  things  to 
them;  pictures  off  tomato  cans,  tobacco  pouches,  soap  and  chewing-gum 
wrappers,  and  what  not ;  cuts  from  the  newspapers,  campaign  pictures. 

If  Mr.  Oldroyd  had  not  been  born  with  the  collecting  spirit  all  this  would 
probably  have  amounted  to  nothing.  It  would  have  been  relegated  to  the  gar 
ret  and  one  day  have  been  burned.  But  he  had  that  itching  for  possession,  and 
the  more  he  had  the  more  he  wanted.  He  spent  all  he  could  earn  in  buying 
new  treasures,  and  he  began  a  general  exchange  with  other  collectors,  until  by 
the  close  of  the  war  he  probably  had  the  finest  lot  of  Lincolniana  in  the  United 
States. 

It  was  the  possession  of  this  collection  which  induced  Mr.  Oldroyd  to  go  to 
Springfield,  111.  Here  he  hoped  to  add  easily  to  what  he  had  already  gathered, 
much  concerning  Lincoln's  early  life,  and  to  find  a  permanent  home  for  his 
whole  collection.  Few  people  appreciated  the  value  of  Lincoln  souvenirs  in 
those  days,  and  many  curious  pieces  came  into  Mr.  Oldroyd's  hands  for  the 


238  APPENDIX. 

asking.  As  the  collection  became  larger  and  the  public  began  to  show  interest 
in  it,  Mr.  Oldroyd  determined  to  put  it  in  a  place  where  he  could  exhibit  it 
freely.  The  old  Lincoln  homestead,  bought  by  Mr.  Lincoln  in  1846,  the  house 
where  he  was  living  when  elected  to  the  Presidency,  was  standing.  It  had 
been  sadly  neglected  for  many  years,  and  now  was  vacant.  Mr.  Oldroyd 
rented  it,  and  put  his  collection  into  the  double  parlors  of  the  house.  The  place 
became  soon  one  of  the  "  monuments  "  of  Springfield,  and  visitors  went  out  of 
their  way  to  see  it.  It  became  the  headquarters  for  old  soldiers  and  the  start 
ing  point  for  all  kinds  of  patriotic  gatherings.  Mr.  Robert  Lincoln,  seeing  the 
interest  which  the  public  took  in  his  father's  old  home,  and  appreciating  the 
efforts  of  Mr.  Oldroyd  to  make  a  complete  collection,  turned  over  the  Lincoln 
homestead  in  1887  to  the  State  as  a  perpetual  memorial  to  Abraham  Lincoln. 
The  legislature  of  Illinois  formally  accepted  the  gift,  and  installed  Mr.  Oldroyd 
as  guardian  of  the  house,  it  being  understood  that  his  collection  was  to  remain 
with  him. 

The  undertaking  proved  a  success,  and  matters  went  well  until  in  1893  the 
administration  changed.  For  some  reason  which  only  those  initiated  into 
the  mysteries  of  party  government  can  understand,  it  was  deemed  unwise  by 
the  party  rulers  to  allow  Mr.  Oldroyd,  who  happened  to  be  of  the  opposing 
faith,  to  remain  in  charge  of  the  Lincoln  Home ;  so  he  was  relieved  of  his  func 
tions  as  guardian,  and  a  new  incumbent  selected.  One  result  of  the  change, 
which  the  new  administration  had  probably  not  counted  on,  was  that,  as 
the  collection  in  the  house  belonged  to  Mr.  Oldroyd,  and  not  to  the  State, 
when  he  went  out  that  went  out  too.  The  intelligent  people  of  Springfield  of 
both  parties  regretted  exceedingly  this  ludicrous  application  of  party  principles 
to  so  non-partisan  a  subject  as  a  collection  of  Lincoln  relics ;  but  nothing  was 
done  to  save  the  museum,  and  Mr.  Oldroyd  was  obliged  to  leave  the  town 
where  he  had  struggled  with  pathetic  patience  for  so  many  years  to  get  a  per 
manent  home  for  his  Lincolniana. 

After  some  casting  about  he  finally  determined  to  remove  to  Washing 
ton,  and  he  was  encouraged  to  this  step  by  several  men  of  the  city  and 
government — prominent  among  whom  were  Chief  Justice  Fuller,  Dr.  Hamlin, 
a  leading  clergyman,  General  Schofield,  and  the  Hon.  G.  G.  Hubbard.  These 
gentlemen  had  founded  a  Lincoln  Memorial  Association;  and,  renting  the 
house  on  Tenth  Street  where  Lincoln  had  died  on  April  15,  1865,  they  installed 
Mr.  Oldroyd  in  it.  Their  plan  was  to  petition  Congress  to  buy  the  house  and 
collection,  and  to  appropriate  enough  for  the  guardian's  salary.  Considerable 
interest  was  awakened  in  the  enterprise,  and  the  association,  on  the  strength 
of  this,  felt  justified  in  keeping  the  house  open  for  several  months.  The  appro 
priation  did  not  come,  however,  and  the  gentlemen  decided  that  the  expenses 
could  not  be  kept  up  indefinitely,  and  that  it  would  be  necessary  to  close  up 
the  exhibit  until  the  heart  of  Congress  could  be  converted. 

The  situation  was  a  difficult  one  for  Mr.  Oldroyd.  He  had  made  the 
change  from  Springfield  to  Washington  at  large  expense  to  himself,  and  now 
he  could  ill  afford  to  carry  on  the  enterprise  alone.  But  with  a  pluck  and  a 
devotion  to  his  cause  which  has  characterized  all  his  movements  he  decided  to 
take  the  burden  on  himself,  rent  the  house,  keep  open  the  museum,  and  trust 
to  the  public  to  support  it.  To  aid  in  the  undertaking,  he  compiled  and  pub- 


THE  OLDROYD  LINCOLN  COLLECTION.  239 

lished  a  small  volume — "  The  Words  of  Lincoln."  The  profits  from  the  sale 
of  this  book,  together  with  the  small  fee  charged  to  enter  the  museum,  are  all 
that  now  support  the  undertaking. 

The  collection  whose  history  has  been  here  sketched  is  full  of  curious  and 
interesting  articles.  Among  the  personal  effects  of  Mr.  Lincoln  which  Mr. 
Oldroyd  has  collected,  the  most  valuable  is  undoubtedly  the  tall  silk  hat  which 
was  worn  by  Lincoln  on  the  night  of  his  assassination.  There  are  several 
specimens  of  the  plain  and  homely  garments  used  by  Mr.  Lincoln  in  his  early 
days  in  Illinois.  Of  household  furniture  there  are  many  examples.  The  most 
touching  is,  undoubtedly,  the  simple,  old-fashioned  cradle  in  which  Mrs.  Lin 
coln,  and,  if  tradition  is  correct,  Mr.  Lincoln  also,  rocked  "  Tad  "  and  Willie. 
A  wooden  settee  which  stood  for  years  on  the  veranda  of  the  Springfield  house, 
is  exhibited,  as  well  as  the  cooking-stove  which  stood  in  the  Lincoln  kitchen 
at  the  time  when  the  family  moved  to  Washington.  Mr.  Oldroyd  says  that  he 
has  been  offered  extravagant  sums  by  stove  dealers  for  this  stove,  they  wanting 
it  presumably  to  use  as  an  advertisement.  Another  valuable  piece  of  furniture 
is  the  wooden  office  chair  which  Mr.  Lincoln  used  when  he  first  began  to 
practise  law  in  1837.  A  chair  of  still  greater  interest  is  an  old-fashioned  hair 
cloth  rocker  in  which  he  sat  in  Ford's  Theatre  on  the  night  on  which  he 
received  his  death- wound. 

Several  autograph  letters  from  Mr.  Lincoln  are  owned  by  Mr.  Oldroyd. 
By  far  the  most  interesting  specimen  of  his  writing  is  the  short  autobiography 
which  he  prepared  for  his  friend  Jesse  Fell  before  the  campaign  of  1860. 
This  autobiography  was  the  foundation  of  all  the  histories  which  were  issued 
in  such  great  numbers  just  before  and  after  his  first  election. 

In  Lincoln  portraiture  the  collection  is  very  full,  though  it  is  rather  from 
a  historical  point  of  view  than  from  an  artistic  that  it  is  valuable.  Mr.  Oldroyd 
has  copies  of  nearly  all  of  the  engravings  and  lithographs  issued  in  Mr.  Lin 
coln's  lifetime.  He  has  also  a  splendid  lot  of  wood-cuts  gathered  from  news 
papers,  magazines,  and  pamphlets.  In  this  collection  of  prints  there  are 
numbers  of  views  of  the  Lincoln  family  and  of  various  scenes  connected  with 
Mr.  Lincoln's  public  career.  From  the  spring  of  1860  until  after  the  funeral,  in 
1865,  there  were  few  issues  of  the  illustrated  papers  in  this  country  which  did 
not  contain  something  on  the  President.  Mr.  Oldroyd  has  succeeded  in  getting 
nearly  all  of  these  prints,  among  them  a  great  many  caricatures.  He  has  a 
full  set  of  "Vanity  Fair,"  and  many  of  the  Currier  and  Ives  lithographs,  now 
so  rare.  An  interesting  feature  of  the  collection  is  the  number  of  curios  it 
contains — campaign  documents  of  various  kinds,  such  as  badges,  medals,  pins, 
letter  paper  and  envelopes,  flags,  etc. 

The  use  that  was  made  by  advertisers  of  Lincoln's  face  during  his  Presi 
dency  is  shown  by  a  case  of  common  articles  ;  there  are  tomato  cans,  soap, 
washing  fluid,  tobacco  pouches,  cigarette  cases,  spruce  gum,  and  many  other 
trivial  articles,  all  enclosed  in  highly-colored  papers  bearing  portraits  of  Mr. 
Lincoln,  surrounded  by  a  rail  fence  or  some  popular  campaign  legend. 

The  only  complete  collection  of  the  portraits  of  Lincoln  issued  by  the 
government  which  we  have  ever  seen,  Mr.  Oldroyd  owns.  Among  them  is  a 
revenue  stamp  calling  for  five  pounds  of  tobacco  ;  another  is  good  for  seventy 
gallons  of  distilled  spirits,  a  third  for  four  ounces  of  snuff,  and  a  fourth 


240  APPENDIX. 

calls  for  cigarettes.  Lincoln's  head  appears  on  a  variety  of  postage  stamps  ; 
the  four,  six,  fifteen,  and  ninety-cent  stamps  all  bear  his  face.  The  six-cent 
stamp  of  each  of  the  Departments  has  a  head  of  Lincoln.  The  old  fifty-cent 
"  shin  plaster  "  is  exhibited.  It  was  the  only  one  of  our  scrip  issue  which  bore 
a  head  of  Lincoln.  His  picture  is  also  to  be  found  on  a  ten-dollar  greenback, 
a  one-hundred-dollar  United  States  note,  and  a  one-hundred-dollar  government 
bond. 

The  most  valuable  portion  of  the  Oldroyd  collection  is  undoubtedly  its 
books,  pamphlets,  and  clippings.  The  library  contains  almost  all  of  the 
biographies  which  have  been  issued,  a  large  number  of  memoirs  by  con 
temporaries  of  Lincoln,  and  many  war  records.  There  are  copies  of  some 
three  hundred  different  sermons  delivered  at  the  time  of  Lincoln's  death, 
as  well  as  a  great  number  of  the  pieces  of  music  composed  in  his  honor. 

A  precious  book  in  Mr.  Oldroyd's  Lincoln  library  is  the  Bible  owned  by 
Thomas  Lincoln,  the  father  of  the  President.  This  Bible  bears  the  date  of 
1798  ;  it  undoubtedly  went  with  the  Lincolns  from  Kentucky  to  Indiana,  and 
was  carried  from  there  by  them  when  they  moved  into  Illinois.  It  was  kept 
in  the  family  of  Thomas  Lincoln's  step-children  until  1892,  when  it  was  sold 
to  be  exhibited  at  the  World's  Fair.  It  afterward  passed  to  Mr.  Oldroyd. 

At  present  it  is  not  known  what  will  be  done  with  the  Oldroyd  collection. 
The  owner  has  made  heroic  efforts  to  keep  it  together,  and  it  is  to  be  hoped 
that  some  way  will  open  by  which  he  can  realize  his  ambition. 


A  series  of  articles  on  the  middle  and  later  periods  of  Lincoln's  life  will  be  found 
in  the  MCCLURE'S  MAGAZINE,  beginning  with  the  number  for  March,  1896.  These 
articles  are  prepared  by  the  authors  of  the  present  volume,  assisted  by  many  persons 
ivho  were  in  close  personal  association  with  Lincoln,  and  possess  important  facts  and 
reminiscences  never  before  published.  The  articles  are  very  fully  illustrated  with 
numerous  portraits  of  Lincoln,  his  friends  and  associates,  and  with  pictures,  specially 
drawn  or  photographed  for  the  Magazine,  of  all  important  places  and  scenes  with 
which  he  was  connected. 


THIS  BOOK  IS  DUE  ON  THE  LAST  DATE 
STAMPED  BELOW 


RENEWED  BOOKS  ARE  SUBJECT  TO  IMMEDIATE 
RECAU 


b^J  LiOrtMKI 
DUE  JUN  14  !i)69 

JUN  1  4  REC'Q 


LIBRARY,  UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA,  DAVIS 

Book  Slip-70m-9,'65(F7151s4)438 


N2  416194 


Tarbell,  I.M.          Tl? 

The  early  life  of 
Abraham  Lincoln. 


LIBRARY 

UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA 
DAVIS 


